if a state tried to secede today...

[Strangelet]

scenario b:

another terrorist attack somewhere on the scale between 9/11 and a nuclear device detonated in an urban area. A situation that some scientists consider to have a probability value converging to 1 over a long enough time frame.

what would be the government response: do you think it wouldn't be to have Erik Prince come back from the emirates with an army of our own retired soldiers getting paid to go door to door, set up check points, and shoot up uncle frank's pick up when he fails to slow down?

you reap what you sow man.

Seriously, we are one mid to high scale incident away from martial law, because everything that would have stood in the way has been softened and diluted over the past 10 years.

call me a nutter. I would be if I asserted this to be a foregone conclusion. But I'd say you're a nutter if you don't accept the possibility.