Pat Buchanan

micronations8_2906038k

Secession lagniappe

Independence referenda began today in Donetsk and Luhansk. The U.S. will not recognize them.

Earlier this week word got out that the CEO of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamana‘opono Crabbe, had submitted a letter (pdf here) to Secretary of State John Kerry, asking him to clarify the status of the Hawaiian Kingdom under international law. The trustees quickly rescinded it, and Crabbe’s job may be in jeopardy. Various Hawaiian nationalists have started a petition to support him, emphasizing that, “The questions posed represent the perspectives of the broader Hawaiian and Hawai‘i community and their search for justice regarding the United States supported illegal overthrow of the constitutional Hawaiian Kingdom on Jan 17th, 1893.” According to the Hawaiian Kingdom blog, one trustee has already distanced himself from the letter rescinding Crabbe’s inquiry, and OHA has a press conference scheduled tomorrow in Honolulu to address the matter.

One of the founders of the Libertarian Party of Puerto Rico calls for “micro-independence” for the territory. Chris Roth is skeptical in light of Obama’s opposition to secession and the need to get an independence referendum through Congress.

Sarawak secession is back in the news, with one lawmaker saying 75 percent of Sarawakians would opt for separation if a vote were held today. (More commentary here.) There’s been friction between the Borneo and peninsular parts of Malaysia for some time, and the disparity in development between the two has only gotten more stark since the issue cropped up in 1966.

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Pat Buchanan on the War Party’s unsuccessful effort to take down Walter Jones.

Roger Busbice on the “fighting bishop” Leonidas Polk:

Louisiana seceded on January 26, 1861 with the enthusiastic support of Bishop Polk. In his homily at Christ Cathedral, he declared that secession was fully justified and indicated that, henceforth, the Book of Common Prayer would be altered to eliminate prayers for the President and Congress of the United States and that, instead, prayers would be offered for the Governor and the Legislature of Louisiana.

This edit became a source of controversy when a zealous Yankee commandant insisted the Bishop of Natchez pray for Lincoln. Bishop Elder asked for intercession from Washington, and Lincoln magnanimously intervened.

Psychedelic band blamed for Nigerian kidnapping. (Related, from the World Socialists, on AFRICOM)

We now know the name of the agent that shot Ibragim Todashev in Florida, following the Boston Marathon bombing. He appears to have an interesting history.

The Telegraph rounds up ten micronations, including Copenhagen’s Freetown Christiania, the Hutt River Principality, and the venerable Conch Republic.

Royalist protests in Bangkok

via Colonial Williamsburg, the reconstructed capitol's off-center cupola, which is impossible to ignore once you know the story

Notes on a brief trip to the colony

I was fortunate enough to be able to leave Washington during the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend, though I only got as far as the Clinton satrapy and military installation once known as Virginia. I’ve just returned from Williamsburg and am catching up; it seems the President stole one of Pat Buchanan’s jokes for his routine, which is something.

My weekend was full of throwbacks — seeing Slint on Friday in Baltimore, for one of their first shows in years (they were a little before my time, but you could feel the crowd’s anticipation), followed by a visit to the former colonial capital to see old friends last night.

Williamsburg City Councilman Scott Foster is expected to win another four years in an uncontested election on Tuesday, making him one of the few municipal officials in history to be re-elected after first being elected as a student. Hard to believe it’s been four years since they were running the first campaign out of our house on campus. If you were to tell me back then that he’d be reelected largely on the strength of city voters — most of the students will have left already, but they also seem not to care as much — I wouldn’t have believed you.

In other news, supposedly the Virginian-Pilot is working on a story about university honor councils, and there’s a bill circulating in the General Assembly that would supposedly help to clarify their role. I’m excited to see what comes of it; the subject has been in the news lately, and student judicial issues will likely become more important if the Obama administration uses its new sexual assault initiative to tweak evidentiary standards or something like that. It’s of personal interest too; the most significant bit of reporting I did in college was this piece on screw-ups in William and Mary’s honor system, which won one of the Collegiate Network’s awards. As a result of those articles, a committee was convened to evaluate their procedures, the results of which were announced in August. My take on those rather inadequate revisions, and a longer version of this story, is here.

(Above, via Colonial Williamsburg, the reconstructed colonial capitol, with its off-center cupola that is impossible to ignore once you know the story.)