Context: Donald Trump spewing bullshit about annexing Canada and Greenland. Meanwhile, Congress has been dragging their feet for YEARS on resolving Puerto Rico’s territorial status.

Citizens living in US territories do not receive equal representation in congress. For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.

Although, at this point I wouldn’t blame PR if they changed their minds about wanting to become the 51st state.

  • techclothes@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Pretty sure by 51st state he means Puerta Rico like status. If the entirety of Canada was considered 1 state it may as well be.

  • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Just heads up, pointing this out makes his cult happier, they fully want him to snub a Hispanic territory for a country that says ‘speak white’ to other European languages also originating from white people.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    That’s cool, I didn’t think Puerto Ricans had expressed a clear preference, but 56% is pretty good. What are we waiting for? Let’s define a path, let’s start walking it. Let’s chat about whether it’s the path they want.

    After a quick read on the issue, the biggest argument against was that Hispanics vote Democrat. But now that Trump broke that trend, maybe now’s the time to get Republicans on board.

    Both mainland us and PR have a lot to offer each other. PR can benefit from more investment in their economy, healthcare, infrastructure, etc, we can benefit from both a slight change in perspective, additional business and tourism opportunities, etc.

    • sfu@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      From what I’ve always heard, most people there weren’t interested in being an actual state.

    • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
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      9 hours ago

      Hmm but if the big stumbling block before was that one of the only 2 parties you have to choose from didn’t want PR to become a state on the basis of its population generally voting the other party, and now that’s changed and they prefer the party that previously opposed their integration in to the union, wouldn’t the party that formerly supported them now simply become opposed?

  • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pub
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    20 hours ago

    “You’ll never have to vote again” was, I believe, the quote, so… Not to minimize this very real problem, but I think we all need to be worried about equal representation, right? 🤣😂😅😢

    • BlackSheep@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Thank you for posting this, crozilla. Really disturbing. It should be “required watching” for every human being. Please don’t be too busy to watch. Turn up the volume, prep and cook dinner, fold laundry, anything. At least listen! And, at this time in history, Canadians: TAKE NOTE! Do not be complacent in our elections. This is serious shit. The U.S.A. has no soul.

  • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    It’s amazing to me that Hawaii has around half the population of Puerto Rico and still they aren’t a state.

    It’s sad.

  • fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net
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    2 days ago

    He keeps saying he wants to make Canada a state but we all know he means “territory” or at least that’s what the ultimate outcome would be. The people around him are not dumb enough to create a new massive state with like 50 EC votes that would 100% vote Democrat.

  • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Oh I believe if you had a referendum right now, PR would go for independence. Tying yourself up to this ship would be bad news. Trump wouldn’t just bring back bombing Vieques, he’d turn the main island into a firing range.

    I wonder if he’d deport me since I have a PR birth certificate.

    • 60d@lemmy.ca
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      20 hours ago

      I wonder if he’d deport me since I have a PR birth certificate.

      Easy way to tell:

    • Hugin@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I’m not so sure. Climate change had doomed PR. Increasing storms, sea level rise, and location make it an increasingly unviable place to live. If they go out on their own they have nowhere to go.

      As it they can move to a state and vote without needing any government approval or immigration. They are US citizens. I live in Florida and have a fair number of friends who are from PR. All of their families are planning on moving here.

      • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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        20 hours ago

        Moving is the only part that makes sense, until the trumpets convince the Supremes that birthright citizenship isn’t anymore.

        You can be sure PR citizens will be high on the list to be deported back to the island, and with fema and the rest of the doge shut downs, they’ll be fucked by the next hurricane anyway.

        • Hugin@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          It would take more than removing birthright citizenship. Congress granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico citizens in 1917.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Maybe the independence votes will grow, but since there is also still the large Puerto Rican diaspora in the US keeping close ties to the island, it would be difficult to separate from that with an independence movement. And a lot of Puerto Rican communities in the US who are eligible to vote for the president saw an uptick in support for the Republicans anyways, despite the “trash island” comment during Trump’s campaign.

      At least as of a few months ago, the symbolic vote on the island was still overwhelmingly in favor of statehood, with independence being the least supported option.

  • Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.

    That’s the kinda stuff people have had to actively ignore in order to be surprised by current events. Like that’s straight up a colony. The thing the US used to be before allegedly abolishing the concept.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Fun battleship fact: all US battleships have been named after states except for one: BB-5, the USS Kearsarge. The original Kearsarge fought in the Civil War and sank the Confederate raider Alabama; ever since then the US Navy has always had a ship in commission named Kearsarge - presumably as a giant fuck you to the South for losing. BB-5 got the name in 1900, forever ruining an otherwise-perfect ship naming convention. For this reason, I support Puerto Rico becoming a state, but only if they rename themselves Kearsarge.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          14 hours ago

          Interesting, were there a series of ships named after mountains at some point? Seems like an odd thing to name boats after: the things the most distant possible from the sea.

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            The Imperial Japanese Navy named their battlecruisers and heavy cruisers after mountains. You gotta name your ships after something, and the problem is worse the more you have - the British named a ton of their warships after flowers of all things.

            • merc@sh.itjust.works
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              5 hours ago

              I mean:

              • rivers
              • lakes
              • fjords
              • towns
              • counties
              • castles
              • fortresses
              • weapons
              • admirals
              • knights of the round table
              • legendary heroes
              • predatory animals

              And if you really have hundreds of vessels (say destroyers) you could just number them.