[The Westerner]

Hamiltonian, back in the Clinton regime when China was buying up our bankrupted steel mills, etc., I decided the US was finished. How can we ever hope to win a war when the basic elements such as for bullets are manufactured in Red China?

So this news from a former military man and geologist Zinke is stunning. It means he has every intention of doing more, e.g., taking back the gift to Indonesia, the Grand Escalante National Park and allowing coal mining or selling it back to capitalists.

If Trump is President for 8 years, can you imagine the resurgence of fundamental manufacturing in this country? My only concern is whether the USGS has any competent, honest, apolitical scientists left?

[Hamiltonian]

The USGS is full of geologists. There might be some deep staters there, but geologists are generally most interested in making geological discoveries.

This literature about strategic minerals at Grand Escalante makes me wonder if taking coal off the market was the real reason for the Grand Escalante designation. The rare mineral deposits make sense, given the Riady connection and what China was doing back then to corner the rare mineral market.

As far as the Steel issue went, if memory serves, some of Traficant's Stand Up for Steel remarks were posted here ~1999, with mixed results.