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posted by on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the five-easy-pieces dept.

This weekend comes word that two of the masterminds behind the United Kingdom’s ongoing divorce from the European Union, Nigel Farage and Arron Banks. The duo just returned from the United States, where they reportedly helped raise a million bucks for one of the Calexit campaigns floating around — a scheme that would split the state into two eastern and western regions.

Farage and Banks are known as the Bad Boys of Brexit, and for good reason. As the controversial leader of the UK Independence Party, or Ukip for short, the one-time broadcaster Farage stirred up the anti-immigration pot in England among the white British working class. Banks, who co-founded the Leave.EU group, angered many when he claimed that Britain’s UK membership is “like having a first class ticket on the Titanic.’’ He also got into hot water with his controversial move to commission a poll after the murder of British politician Jo Cox, asking respondents whether the crime would have an impact on public opinion.

Now the Bad Boys have brought their shtick to California, according to a report in the Daily Mail which says the pair are helping exit backers trying to pit the eastern, more rural side of California against the western ‘coastal elite’ liberals in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The plan would be to create a Republican stronghold in the new state cleaved off California’s eastern flank, thus giving the GOP two more senators and electoral college votes for a 2020 presidential election.

Mercury News continues:

Meanwhile, a second Calexit campaign is underway. It’s called Yes California and it would see the state seceding from America entirely. If that initiative successfully finds a place on the ballot, a Yes vote would repeal clauses in the California Constitution stating “California is an inseparable part of the United States and that the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land, ‘’ according to a statement from California’s Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office said.

[Ed note: corrected typo in this story's last paragraph and expanded same to include the entire paragraph from which it was extracted. --martyb]


Original Submission

Related Stories

Politics: Proposal to Divide California Into Three States Could Land on the November Ballot 75 comments

Third time's the charm:

A California technology billionaire said on Thursday that his longtime and perhaps quixotic effort to partition the Golden State into multiple new states could soon be put before voters.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper said he had gathered about 600,000 signatures on a petition to put his proposal to divide California on the November ballot, more than the 366,000 needed to qualify. It is his third attempt to get voters to weigh in on his call to break up the most populous U.S. state.

Draper, who in 2014 and 2016 failed in his efforts to win approval for a ballot initiative to divide the state into six parts, said in a news release Thursday that he planned to file the signatures with election officials next week.

[...] To go into effect, California would first have to certify the signatures that Draper has gathered, and then voters in November would need to pass the measure. After that, the U.S. Congress would have to approve it.

Also at The Mercury News and SFGate.

Related:
Secessionists Formally Launch Quest for California's Independence
California Secession Leader has Russian Ties
Calexit: the "Bad Boys of Brexit" Throw Their Weight Behind Move to Split State


Original Submission

Politics: Ballot Measure to Split California Into Three States Will Appear on the November 2018 Ballot 57 comments

Radical plan to split California into three states earns spot on November ballot

California's 168-year run as a single entity, hugging the continent's edge for hundreds of miles and sprawling east across mountains and desert, could come to an end next year — as a controversial plan to split the Golden State into three new jurisdictions qualified Tuesday for the Nov. 6 ballot.

If a majority of voters who cast ballots agree, a long and contentious process would begin for three separate states to take the place of California, with one primarily centered around Los Angeles and the other two divvying up the counties to the north and south. Completion of the radical plan — far from certain, given its many hurdles at judicial, state and federal levels — would make history.

It would be the first division of an existing U.S. state since the creation of West Virginia in 1863.

Also at CNN and The Hill.

Previously: Proposal to Divide California Into Three States Could Land on the November Ballot

Related: Secessionists Formally Launch Quest for California's Independence
California Secession Leader has Russian Ties
Calexit: the "Bad Boys of Brexit" Throw Their Weight Behind Move to Split State


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:37PM (28 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:37PM (#485551)

    If they tried to get the cascades region to leave, maybe, but I really don't think this will be successful. There's just not a reason to split the state except for party dominance games, and most people don't care about that.

    • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:15AM (12 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:15AM (#485571) Homepage

      You will care after the inland side expels its illegals into your half while your half offers them sanctuary. Ah, who are we kidding, not even the coastal side would keep their doors open for long after they realize they no longer need the minority vote to keep the Democrats in power.

      This would leave the coastal part between a rock and a hard place - they would either have to admit to many of their own that they are not as tolerant as they let on, executing Trump-style immigration actions, or it will implode into a third-world country while all the Whites who made California prosperous in the first place flee to the inland side. As a bonus to other states, we would then have a containment zone for leftist hipster faggots settling on inland California's cheaper property (rather than Austin or Denver) and libertarianism rather than the soon-to-become favelas of the coastal area, properly kept in check by the militias.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:43AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:43AM (#485587)

        Then who will pick the fruits and vegetables?

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:58AM (2 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:58AM (#485612) Journal

          Then who will pick the fruits and vegetables?

          The libertarians.
          With the individual liberty and self-determination in mind, they'll do it gladly for the same wage as the illegal immigrants, for the good and prosperity of the EastCal.

          (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:10AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:10AM (#485702)

            I would love to see the libertarians and trump supporters get off their lazy unemployed asses and get out into those fields and start picking all that produce going to waste as they just had to go ahead and kick all the real farm workers out of the country. I hear they're paying > $20/hr right now and are scrambling to NOT lose their crops altogether because they can't find enough help. Some are talking of switching their crops to Almond trees that can be managed with 3 people.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:13AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:13AM (#485618)

          This myth has been debunked time and time again.

          Americans are not only willing to do the menial jobs typically associated with unskilled illegals; they still make up the overwhelming majority of personnel in such jobs.

          But that fact gets in the way of the idea of poor immigrants who do the jobs that Americans feel too entitled to take.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:28PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:28PM (#485868)

            Americans are not only willing to do the menial jobs typically associated with unskilled illegals; they still make up the overwhelming majority of personnel in such jobs.

            http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/local/meatpacking-industry-has-a-long-history-of-reliance-on-immigrant-laborer/ [greeleytribune.com]

            You see, no one wants to do shit jobs for minimum wage especially under shit working conditions where you can lose an arm or all your fingers in a blink of an eye. And crony capitalism, like the one of Trump, is just going to make things worse. Instead of making sure working conditions, safety regulations are followed, and instead of fining employers for illegally hiring illegal aliens, what happens is the opposite because Murica Inc. needs their profits at all costs. So instead, they deport only few illegal migrants every so often to keep fear alive in these plants (so no one complains), don't fine companies for illegal hiring practices, tear down union laws that allow workers to actually organize. What do you expect? You end up with people you can most easily replace and kicked to the curb - undocumented workers.

            Trump only cares about corp. profits, not individual prosperity. Heck, I don't think he cares to know that $30k/yr is a good, living wage for many people in America. For him if he can make $1 billion declaring bankruptcy and forcing 1000 workers on the street, it's a good day. He's proud of that!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:48PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:48PM (#486208)

              Pfft.... $30k is barely a decent meal these days.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:46PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:46PM (#486136)

          It's funny how democrats are all about a living wage in their urban cities, but still feel a need for dark-skinned slaves to pick crops. Republicans have been fighting this for a century and a half.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:54PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:54PM (#486212)

            God bless the Republicans for standing up for the lesser races. *waves Confederate flag of emancipation*

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:10PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:10PM (#485862) Journal

        I grew up in the West and spent a lot of time in California, but it was always on the coast or in the central valley. The coast was movie stars, techno-lords, and retired military, and the central valley was agrobusiness overlords who affect Republicanism because it aligns best with the plantations they run. Wasn't until this summer I spent significant time in the north and east of the Sierras. Those are two different worlds, the north feeling like Oregon and east of the Sierras like New Mexico, Arizona, or Colorado. Breaking California up into four states comprising those regions would work pretty well. It wouldn't change the political balance in the larger country much either, with the coast and north staying blue and the central and east going red.

        Breaking California off into an entirely separate country would be much more tramautic to everyone than it would have been for the South to succeed before. California is a powerhouse across a lot of sectors so it could very well stand on its own. But it's so deeply tied into the rest of America that extricating itself from the whole would do a lot of damage for a long time. The people who voted for Brexit probably thought the divorce would be immediate, but they're probably going to find it's going to take at least as long to get untangled as it took to integrate before, and the same would be true for Calexit.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:07PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:07PM (#486180)

          It could stand on it's own for everything except military(the US would not leave its resources there), water, power generation, trade agreements, and on and on. If any one single state were to break off and be self sufficient it would more likely be Texas or Alaska.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:03PM (#486215)

          The people who voted for Brexit probably thought it was going to herald in a new era in Middle Earth where Frodo and Sam would bake cookies on Wednesdays and everyone would get together under the tree on the common to sing rousing choruses about WW1 until uncle Bilbo got sleepy and got carried home.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:15AM (14 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:15AM (#485598)

      Outside the coastal cities, people prefer normal American values. They want constitutional carry (no permit needed to carry a gun; the right is presumed), stand-your-ground (the right to self-defense with deadly force, without a duty to retreat), removal of illegals, low taxes, etc.

      Inside the coastal cities, people abhor that kind of freedom. They hate America; they are fake Americans.

      It's long past time for a divorce. Besides, the state is just stupidly big. WTF. Might as well make the USA one giant state, hmmm?

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:31AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:31AM (#485604)

        Outside the coastal cities, people prefer normal American values. They want constitutional carry (no permit needed to carry a gun; the right is presumed), stand-your-ground (the right to self-defense with deadly force, without a duty to retreat), removal of illegals, low taxes, etc.

        These are not American values, nor are they normal. These are Republican values, or, not to put too fine a point on it, ammosexual racist libertardtarian values. These are not normal human values. Found the lizard person!!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:36AM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:36AM (#485679)

          The first one, constitutional carry, is just following the Constitution.

          • (Score: 2) by G-forze on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:41AM (3 children)

            by G-forze (1276) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:41AM (#485691)

            It's funny how gun nutters always seem to forget the part that talks about "a well regulated militia". The regulation part is right there in the second amendment!

            --
            If I run into the term "SJW", I stop reading.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:05PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:05PM (#485827)

              Someone doesn't know the context of the word regulate within the Constitution! But glad you tried!

              Hint: every other time a variation of the verb to regulate is used in the document, it tells exactly who does the regulating. Not in that pesky second amendment though! That section uses an older definition where regulated is synonymous with the modern term, trained. And how does a mikitia become well trained? Certainly never in a situation where the government owns monopoly on self defense.

              Your third grade interpretation or the constitution is appalling.

              Would you like government monopoly on self defense? Why not government monopoly on encryption as well? Backdoor for everyone who hasn't completed a polygraph!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:59PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:59PM (#486015)

              you're a dumb fuck or a liar. the "militia" part was an explanation/example not a requirement and you probably know it.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:11PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:11PM (#486183)

              Funny how anti-gun nutters forget "well regulated militia" did not mean "well restricted" or "lots of rules". At the time of writing, it meant "well supplied and trained". Remember, at the time the founding fathers did not believe in a standing army. They believed the people would stand up in militias to defend themselves. Militias supplied their own firearms and supplies. The end result is that in order to have a good militia, people should be able to supply themselves with arms and munitions.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:51AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:51AM (#485697)

          I like how this just devolved into:
          Republicans - American
          Democrats - Unamerican
          Makes sense to me :)

          I love America.
              -- A love letter to America

        • (Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:09AM

          by Bot (3902) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:09AM (#485701) Journal

          Nah, it was those values among others that enabled European immigrants to take over the land of the buffalo. Said without hate (having few Roman tracts I am one of the barbarians too), Vae victis.

          --
          Account abandoned.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:51PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:51PM (#486142)

          Ammosexual libertardtarian values would be **open** carry, with a huge .45 Magnum on your belt for all to see as you shop in the local mall.

          Racist would be banning affordable guns or making a license expensive, abusing the fact that some races tend to be less well off.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:11AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:11AM (#485685)

        I've lived in both parts of the state and as far as I can tell the only difference between the coast and the Inland is that the coast is richer.

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:04PM (3 children)

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:04PM (#485934) Journal

        Your point about the state being too big is valid. Your point about the right to unlicensed carry is not. It's quite valid for rural areas and insanely stupid for urban areas. But it should be a city level choice, with possibly a state authorized uniform provision that can be either accepted or rejected by the city. I think that even Red Bluff would choose to ban unlicensed carry. Auburn probably wouldn't, though I haven't looked at it lately, so I don't know how big it's gotten.

        Just remember, Matt Dillon brought the law to Dodge City by banning open carry within city limits. This isn't what they showed on Gunsmoke, but it's the way it actually happened. (I'm not actually sure whether he banned open carry, or banned carrying at all, though.)

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:03PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:03PM (#486016)

          no american needs a license from the fucking government to carry a firearm. that's the whole point of the 2nd amendment. anyone who suggests otherwise is guilty of sedition and should be punished for that crime. we will probably see this carried out or civil war in my lifetime, since you socialist scum won't fuck off or move. I wonder who's going to when when this cold war goes hot?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:34PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:34PM (#486034)

            The second amendment doesn't mention americans. It says people.
            According to the constitution anybdy in the USA (legally or not) can carry any weapon they like, anywhere they want to.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:09PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:09PM (#486219)

            Glad you respect the Constitution so much. So how do you feel about the emoluments clause?

  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:40PM (12 children)

    by edIII (791) on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:40PM (#485554)

    the pair are helping exit backers trying to pit the eastern, more rural side of California against the western ‘coastal elite’ liberals in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The plan would be to create a Republican stronghold in the new state cleaved off California’s eastern flank, thus giving the GOP two more senators and electoral college votes for a 2020 presidential election.

    "Yes California ...would see the state succeeding from America entirely."

    Which is it? California splitting into two states, which is an entirely separate matter, or California leaving the United States? The GOP could only be helped if California remained, and was split up or, gerrymandered into supporting the GOP instead the Democrats.

    The whole article is confusing as fuck. If those a-holes want to help California leave, than by all means let them. Split California in half? That's even more unlikely than California leaving.

    I do note that these are GOP toadies openly talking about gerrymandering and further rigging our elections. If it's not the Russians it's the Brits! :)

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:00AM (#485563)

      California secession is a long-term Mexican plan to reunite Alta and Baja California, which many indigenous see as their ancestral birthplace, Aztlan. Rest assured, if California seceeds from the United States, Sacremento will fall to D.F. within a generation. Repatriation is following in the example of Americans in Texas during the 1820's. Mexicans see the American southwest as occupied territory, and their foreign policy is to take it back including all the natural resources and by proxy, riches obtained through California's booming tech sector.

      Exporting their loyal undesirables to the United States has been official Mexican economic policy for three decades now. It brings money into Mexico while keeping the 'official' unemployment rate in lower single digits and preventing those undesirables from causing regime change within the failed state. The number one export from Mexico is its Mexicans, and one out of every four Mexicans has fled to the United States under de facto policy since the 1990's.

    • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:21AM (1 child)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:21AM (#485576) Homepage

      Spoken like somebody who has no idea just how red (as in, Republican, not filthy commie) the geographic majority of California is. Of course, the rest of the world thinks we're one big L.A. and San Francisco.

      I'm for this split, as the actual conceptual map of the proposed split is one I described independently here before, that is, carve out the coast from L.A. to San Francisco, maybe to the top of the state.

      I don't know where the previous 6-state madness came from previous ideas to carve up California, but it makes a lot more sense to divide it into 2 states.

      The only major problem with any similar idea is that 50 is a nice round number, and the petty but very dominating reason is that 50 is too good a number to ruin. 51 is just an ugly number.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:02AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:02AM (#485615) Journal

        The only major problem with any similar idea is that 50 is a nice round number, and the petty but very dominating reason is that 50 is too good a number to ruin. 51 is just an ugly number.

        Solution: after Scotland secedes., annex UK as the 52-nd.

        (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:04AM (4 children)

      by butthurt (6141) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:04AM (#485590) Journal

      Mr. Schwarzenegger, when he was governor of the state, helped bring about a non-partisan redistricting commission that seems to have lessened gerrymandering there. Some of his fellow Republican politicians opposed it. Now he's advocating similar measures elsewhere.

      http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/gop_fears_a_redistricting_backfire/ [outsidethebeltway.com]
      http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/319678-schwarzenegger-rips-gerrymandering-congress-couldnt-beat-herpes [thehill.com]
      http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-herpes-hemorrhoids-and-nickelback-all-1487036332-htmlstory.html [latimes.com]

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:05AM

        by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:05AM (#485635) Journal

        The Democrats weren't too happy, either, especially since they were in the majority. In the end, only the voters liked it. But that is what matters in an initiative.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:44PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:44PM (#485962)

        Schwarzenegger, also helped Maldenaldo get passed an initiative that completely disenfranchised all non Democrat/Republican voters by preventing their candidates from being on the final ballot unless they recieved more votes in the primary than the Dem and/or Repub. I am not convinced his support for this redistricting was not simply self serving.

        • (Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:26PM

          by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:26PM (#486189) Journal

          You should have noted it doesn't apply in presidential elections.

          Mostly, it makes no difference, but we do get spectacles like the two Democrats in the runoff for the Senate last time.

        • (Score: 1) by butthurt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:25PM

          by butthurt (6141) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:25PM (#486224) Journal

          From my first link, which dates to 2005:

          Schwarzenegger’s motivation here is far from pure–he’s essentially trying to create a system that will help him enact his own agenda, even if it results in diminution of his party’s influence at the national level.

          If there's something impure about his continuing advocacy on the topic, I don't know what it is.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:16AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:16AM (#485599)

      As you say, the article makes no damned sense. Turning California into a few smaller states could work (2, 3, or 4 I've heard proposed). Some of these could be reasonable red/blue neutral, and the state really is too damned big given its population and its size, and the way that ends up working out nationally. Whether Californians would actually want that, I have no idea.

      But the actual idea of "Calexit"- where California votes to become a separate country by secession- has its own backers, and enjoys effectively no real support. Less so than the idea that Texas should secede, which also enjoys effectively no real support. Much more importantly, secession is punishable by conquering and death, as determined empirically, so no such vote would have any effect or legal binding- states cannot leave the union, and the relevant citation is "the civil war".

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:52AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:52AM (#485610)

        the relevant citation is "the civil war".

        And the last line from Hotel California.

    • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:01AM (1 child)

      by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:01AM (#485700)

      As pure power politics, either plan should be ok by me. If CA is split Team Red picks up two Senators and half of the State has a chance of survival without the worst of the lunatics. Win, Win. If CA leaves as a unit it is still good. Somebody did a detailed breakdown of how the House would reset, remember it is fixed by law at 435 members so they would instantly rebalance the 53 strong CA delegation. The article ended with a summary infographic of the US with CA pulled off. CA painted red with Hammer and Sickle and the rest with a Confederate Stars and Bars motif. Take 55 EV from the Dem total and they could forget electing a POTUS until the party positions totally reset over time.

      But I'm an asshole. Had Rick Perry pulled Texas out in protest of Obama's lawlessness we all know the tanks would have been ordered in. If CA wants out I say we improve LA and San Fran with a new March to the Sea style urban renewal and tell em to sit down, shut up and enjoy their turn at a hundred years plus of Reconstruction. What is it with Democrats and secession? Didn't they learn their lesson in the 1860s?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:45AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:45AM (#485749)

        [begin coded message] SJW Special jmorris Monitoring Squad, interim progress report: This was intercepted from the jmorris account:

        But I'm an asshole.

        We strongly suspect that reflective self-consciousness may be imminent in the jmorris. Perhaps a complete convergence is possible. Further reports to follow. [end coded message. ]

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:42PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:42PM (#485556)

    These right-wing assholes are trying to tear the world apart. I can't wait until borders are a thing of the past, and so are uneducated idiots who voted for both Trump and Brexit!

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:49PM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:49PM (#485559)

      Yeah! I can't wait to work hard and pay for the entire planet's deadbeats, instead of just the local deadbeats around here!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:54PM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:54PM (#485561)

        Who said anything about socialism?

        • (Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:11AM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:11AM (#485568) Journal

          Who said anything about socialism?

          "Right-wing assholes", "borders are a thing of the past", and "uneducated idiots" are "code words" for "socialism".

          • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:34AM (3 children)

            by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:34AM (#485606) Journal

            Who said anything about socialism?

            "Right-wing assholes", "borders are a thing of the past", and "uneducated idiots" are "code words" for "socialism".

            No, they are not.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:58AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:58AM (#485656)

              Nowadays the first and the third are synonyms for socialists.
              UKIP are pretty damn socialist, but only for the "right" (aka white) ones.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:52PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:52PM (#485922)

                I'll give you the standard response: pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars for public services you've enjoyed. We already have partial socialism, as it should be. The people who think capitalism is pure evil are idiots. The people who think socialism is evil are even bigger idiots.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:19PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:19PM (#485996)

              Yes they are. You can also add *racist* and *sexist* and ...come to think of it maybe *ist* :P

    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:23PM

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:23PM (#485998)

      Oh please, that'll never happen unless you genetically engineer people to not be stupid.

      In short, our species is doomed to self-destruction.

    • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:07PM

      by linkdude64 (5482) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:07PM (#486051)

      Is this what the globalists are saying, now? That the world has always been one unified happy and safe place where children laugh and frolick? And that borders exist only because of the always-evil white man?

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:52PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:52PM (#485560)

    The constitution says you can not do it unless you get Congress and the State legislature to agree to it. To split the any state into 2 or more parts would probably require a lot of ass kissing.

    Section 4.3
    " New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress."

    So you would need to get Congress to say yes AND the California legislature to agree. It would probably be a tough sell on both accounts. Not impossible but tough.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:21AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:21AM (#485577)

      Or they could secede, split, and join the union as "new" (slightly used) states.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:53AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:53AM (#485751)

        Minus the parts that get vaporized in the process.

      • (Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:06PM

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:06PM (#485896)

        FTFY: Or they could secede, split, be conquered, and join the union as "new" (slightly destroyed) states.

        --
        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:56AM (#485752)

      Maine separated from Massachusetts (and West Virginia separated from Virginia, which was part of the Confederacy at the time, so that one doesn't really count).

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:59PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28 2017, @11:59PM (#485562)

    Currently, a California resident is poorly represented in the senate (and not just because our senators are lame) as well as in Sacramento. States should typically have populations of about one to three million people so that individual voices are not so diluted. That means California should break up into more than a dozen new states. What we really need is legislation that makes it easy for groups of counties to get together to form a separate state. It should be up to the people involved to decide whether or not to form a new state, and who to form it with.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:10AM (5 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @02:10AM (#485616) Journal

      States should typically have populations of about one to three million people so that individual voices are not so diluted.

      At 300mils population, this means between 1000 and 3000 states, right?
      Just imagine the Senate [blick.ch]

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:09AM (4 children)

        by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:09AM (#485637) Journal

        No, 100 to 300. That's still probably too many.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:54AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:54AM (#485655) Journal

          No, 100 to 300. That's still probably too many.

          Right, thanks. Insomnia effects.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:08AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:08AM (#485758)

            Maybe there needs to be another level of representation between counties and states?

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:51AM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:51AM (#485793) Journal

              Maybe there needs to be another level of representation between counties and states?

              Yeap, more governance! Bring it on!!!
              (then spend whatever needed and build that Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B - keep the hairdressers at home and replace them with the political parasites)

              Haven't you had enough of the two parties system? Here's an idea: maybe if you adjust the rules of the electoral game, you'll be better represented.
              Many European countries are governed mainly by coalition governments, not a single party can form a govern on their own and the coalitions are somehow fluid.
              There, have Netherlands as an example - pre-March 2017 no less than 10 parties represented in their parliament [wikipedia.org].
              The result? Heaps of negotiations (isn't that what the politicians are supposed to do?), many amendment to laws and the rate of passing laws is slooow - which results in a smaller number of laws, complex just enough to plug the loopholes that affects the people represented by each of those parties.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
            • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:14PM

              by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:14PM (#485938) Journal

              Yes, And a restriction so that regulations at one level can only be applied the the directly lower level, not all the way down. The direct election of Senators was also a bad mistake. It severely weakened the powers of the states, leading over time to the encroachment of the Federal government beyond all reason and without hindrance. The states, defending their own power (often for vile or stupid reasons) had previously provided that hindrance. Similarly allowing the Federal government to directly tax the citizens rather than taxing the states which taxed the citizens was another bad mistake.

              I've got to be fair, each time those actions were done, there was a "good reason". It's just that the long term effects were worse than what was avoided, and a different answer needed to be found. If, of course, your goal was the good of the citizenry of the country rather than the power of the federal government.

              --
              Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:02AM (#485661)

      > Currently, a California resident is poorly represented in the senate (and not just because our senators are lame) as well as in Sacramento.

      That's why we have city and county councils.

  • (Score: 2) by snufu on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:03AM (4 children)

    by snufu (5855) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:03AM (#485565)

    and their two new GOP senators and electoral votes. None of that will matter in the new sovereign nation in the western half. The one with no second amendment.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by bob_super on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:13AM (3 children)

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:13AM (#485569)

      Nope.
      I sure wouldn't want to leave the mountains to the greedy bastards. Not because I'm a treehugger, not just because I like those national parks, but because I drink the water which flows down from them, and I can't afford the futuristic purification plant to remove all the stuff that the R guys seem to think belongs in rivers (because it saves cash over proper disposal).

      • (Score: 2) by snufu on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:27AM (2 children)

        by snufu (5855) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:27AM (#485580)

        But what if you had to choose: give up the the Sierras, or stay married to Darrell Issa and company?

        California is indeed a microcosm of the U.S. Desirable hubs on its western and eastern sides, with its very own drive-over country in between.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:13PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:13PM (#485992)

          I dread a purely coastal CA (or US).
          Those guys thinking different thoughts in the middle keep everyone from doing insane shit in their own bubble.

          Whether you agree with them or not, someone who sees things in a way you don't, is bound to teach you something.
          You have to sort out whether it's something you should or should not do.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:01AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:01AM (#486279)

          Most of the sierras is owned by the US gov. LARGE sections of western states are federally owned.

  • (Score: 1) by foggy fogy on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:06AM (1 child)

    by foggy fogy (3795) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:06AM (#485566)

    For California to succeed they must first secede.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:17AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:17AM (#485572)

      California is already succeeding, and entirely from America too, but they can't continue doing that after they secede.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:37AM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @12:37AM (#485583) Journal

    Mercury News: "Yes California ...would see the state succeeding from America entirely."

    Succeed is from Latin succedere, "come after, follow after," etc., ultimately from sub- ("after") + cedere ("go, move").

    Secede is from Latin secedere, "to separate apart," ultimately from se- ("apart") + cedere ("go, move").

    The words mean completely different things and come from different roots. Secession even has ancient political roots, referring at first to the secession of the plebs [wikipedia.org], where basically the working class took a "general strike" to the extreme by literally leaving town until their political demands were met.

  • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:13AM (6 children)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:13AM (#485595) Homepage

    Exit? The state is federal property.
    Sell them.
    Sell them to Mexico, then Mexico can use the tax revenue to pay off the purchase.
    They'll love the multicultural changes. After touting the virtues of high taxed to fund benefits for another group, I'm sure there won't be any complaints about diverting Ca tax revenue to paying off the debt. Win-win!

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:41AM (4 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @01:41AM (#485608) Journal

      Sell them.
      Sell them to Mexico, then Mexico can use the tax revenue to pay off the purchase.

      Really bad form to sell something to the people you stole it from when you raped their country, shelled Veracruz, and killed their cadets in the "Battle of Niños Héroes". The Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed at bayonet point! I say, give back Tejas, and get all those illegal immigrant gringos out of there.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by chromas on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:13AM (3 children)

        by chromas (34) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:13AM (#485760) Journal

        Finally, the social justice tards can be the minorities they care so much about.

        and get all those illegal immigrant gringos out of there

        Das racis! They're the minorities now so they're automatically oppressed and deserve reparations.

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:25AM (2 children)

          by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:25AM (#485766) Journal

          Yeah, right! No! They are violating the laws of Mexico by illegally occupying that territory! David Bowie and Daniel Boone? Did you not see the video? Anglo thugs! "Remember the Alamo" is the gringo version of "White lives matter". They are not minorities, they are criminals, dropping their anchor babies for generations. How can you not see this? A country that cannot defend its borders cannot continue to exist! I am talking about Mexico here, you know. And reparations? For gringo land-thieves? No injustice was done to them, or will be. They were not forced to go to Tejas! Criminals! Pure and simple. They stole Tejas, and then joined the US of A, and then rebelled from that! So really, Texas is not a model nation. Kind of like Rome, founded on war, rape, fratricide, betrayal, and Rick Perry.

          Finally, the social justice tards can be the minorities they care so much about.

          Who you talking about, Whitey?

    • (Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:10PM

      by cmn32480 (443) <reversethis-{moc.liamg} {ta} {08423nmc}> on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:10PM (#486448) Journal

      Do you realize how long the wall will have to be to do this???

      Think of the costs, man!

      --
      "It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:42AM (#485651)

    The article says "seceding from America entirely" which means something different from "succeeding."

  • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:43PM

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:43PM (#486456)

    he claimed that Britain’s UK membership is “like having a first class ticket on the Titanic.’’

    I know that the Titanic was built in Belfast, but Britain's membership of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland isn't that bad...

  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday March 30 2017, @08:39PM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 30 2017, @08:39PM (#486736) Journal

    This weekend comes word that two of the masterminds behind the United Kingdom’s ongoing divorce from the European Union, Nigel Farage and Arron Banks.

    So the Hitler and Mussolini wannabes continue to do that nice Mr Putin's [youtube.com] work?

    Who's have thought it?

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