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.

  • tehn00bi@lemmy.world
    6·
    9 小时前

    If the US gives away Puerto Rico, a ton of technology companies will be in trouble due to citizen requirements. Like my company off shores a lot of engineering and IT work to PR.

  • techclothes@lemmy.world
    12·
    16 小时前

    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.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      4·
      28 分钟前

      There’s no way he’d annex Canada then give them the right to vote. It would be 2 more Democratic Senators, a massive leftward shift in the House, and would have more electoral college votes than any other state - all going to the Dems.

      Edit: The more I think about it the more I like the idea. Can we annex them for like 1 election cycle, clean house, then de-annex them. We just need them to be American for like 3-4 years.

      • Barbecue Cowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        1 小时前

        I feel like things could work out for them if territory boundaries were kept intact and integrated as individual states. I feel like Ontario would settle as a solid democrat state, but I think the rest are still in play. I want to say Quebec would end up democrat too but Quebec is surprising, I wouldn’t put any money on it.

  • Snowclone@lemmy.world
    81·
    1 天前

    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
    51·
    24 小时前

    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.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        1·
        7 小时前

        Believe it or not.

        I don’t know much about the state of healthcare there and nothing about how health coverage or insurance works, but from stories after the hurricane, it appears hospitals are much less equipped or accessible. A significant investment in technology and medical offices seems beneficial.

        I’m certainly willing to be called wrong by anyone with first hand or more complete knowledge

    • sfu@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      15 小时前

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

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 小时前

        Like I said, that was my impression as well, but it appears the last referendum had 56% in favor. I don’t know if that’s enough for a significant change in government but it’s clearly enough to take seriously. It’s enough that I hope there is a clear process and clear thresholds to progress in whatever direction the people want, and most of all I wish the US wasn’t an obstruction to whichever direction they want to go.

    • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
      2·
      19 小时前

      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
    12·
    1 天前

    “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? 🤣😂😅😢

  • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
    971·
    2 天前

    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.caEnglish
      11·
      1 天前

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

      Easy way to tell:

    • Hugin@lemmy.world
      7·
      1 天前

      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.worksEnglish
        3·
        1 天前

        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
          2·
          1 天前

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

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
      20·
      2 天前

      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.

  • theangryseal@lemmy.world
    18·
    2 天前

    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.netEnglish
    77·
    2 天前

    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.

    • BlackSheep@lemmy.caEnglish
      21·
      15 小时前

      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.

  • epyon22
    17·
    2 天前

    Puerto Rico in reality “good now everyone can stop asking us to be the 51st”

    • 60d@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      1 天前

      Too many “kot-tam limbrals” there in PR! The Cons would never allow statehood anyway. We’d need a Dem majority in the house, senate AND a Dem POTUS/SCOTUS.