Mixed results in the Jefferson State referenda this week:

California voters in two northern rural counties split the difference Tuesday on 51st state ballot measures aimed at carving out a new state called Jefferson.

Measure A lost by 41 to 59 percent in Del Norte County, while Tehama County voters approved Measure A by 56 to 44 percent, according to figures from the county clerks.

… In Del Norte County, a union-backed group called Keep It California waged a battle against the measure, arguing that it would further impoverish the county by removing state funding for services like schools. The school board had also opposed the proposal.

Supposedly the AFL-CIO and SEIU-backed opposition spent more than 40k opposing the measure. More county boards are taking it up next week, so stay tuned. Mark Baird fires back at local officials regarding the unsuccessful Del Norte county vote:

We are not finished by a long shot. It took Maine three tries to break away from Massachusetts. The apathy from the Massachusetts legislature toward a distant corner of the state is a reflection of what is going on here.

Liars, lie. It is what they do. It is in David Finnigan’s nature to be a liar. He has violated county administrative procedures by denying the other Supervisors the opportunity to speak and to vote. He has denied the public their First Amendment rights in a public meeting. He has lied to his constituents regarding attempts to widen the highway, when he is a member of the group which wants to keep a dangerous road. Martha McClure is cut from the same cloth.

Isn’t Hendricks the guy responsible for the alleged missing funds from the waste management district?

He’s quoted in this Washington Times report too.

Here’s Keli’i Akina’s piece on why the Obama administration’s proposal for what amounts to tribal recognition for Native Hawaiians is unconstitutional and doesn’t address the aspirations of independence advocates.

A great post on the 1897 Hawaiian petitions against annexation, with this anecdote about the great anti-imperialist Senator, George Frisbie Hoar:

The day after that, the delegates met with Senator Hoar, who was against annexation. They braved snow, cold and slippery streets to get to the Senator’s residence. They said the “elemakule” (old man) greeted them with a handshake. He asked them what the people of Hawaii thought about annexation. John Richardson, the spokesman, explained everything. While he was explaining, they could see tears welling up in the old man’s eyes. Richardson told him that they brought petitions signed by the whole nation protesting the annexation. Senator Hoar told them to submit the petitions to him, and he would bring them before the Senate, and then to the Foreign Relations Committee. David Kalauokalani of Hui Kalaiaina also submitted his endorsement of those petitions (so that the U.S. would know both huis had the same goal). On December 9, Senator Hoar read the text of the petitions to the Senate and had them formally accepted. The delegates were present, seated in the area where people are allowed to observe the Senate proceedings.

Tommy Christopher is writing about the Virginia flaggers now, who recently put up their second massive Confederate flag near Fredericksburg. I can’t say I’ve ever heard “The Bonnie Blue Flag” on pipes before, or the hilarious attempt to shoehorn “Dixie” into the instrument’s nine notes:

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Spain’s King Juan Carlos abdicates in favor of his son, the crown prince. PM Mariano Rajoy has said a referendum on the monarchy isn’t in the cards. Some were out in the streets and a guillotine was even set up in Valencia, but the BBC’s Tom Burridge, reporting from Madrid, says the numbers were “not huge.” In any case, it appears to have emboldened the Catalans.

French regional independence advocates don’t like Hollande’s new territorial map.

Something’s going on in Gordo-Badakhshan, but we don’t really know what.

Barack Obama comes out against Scottish independence, and is subsequently put on the cover of all the Scottish papers.

China denounces the Tibetan government-in-exile’s Prime Minister as a separatist.

China laughs at your seasteads.

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Michael Rozeff on the principle of secession.