tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post227435064638836029..comments2024-03-24T17:01:24.541-04:00Comments on Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Vox on Puerto Rico statehood and John Oliver on territoriesPinku-Senseihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-73994675846228472592018-02-05T12:46:55.947-05:002018-02-05T12:46:55.947-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11191475867552960467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-52827709596172735892018-02-04T00:32:50.434-05:002018-02-04T00:32:50.434-05:00LOL. When I go to a left-leaning protest, such as...LOL. When I go to a left-leaning protest, such as the Women's March or the March for Science, I invariably see someone carrying a placard saying "Look at all the correctly spelled signs." Besides, I screwed up, too. I commingled the current term "British Overseas Territories" with the much older one "British Crown Colonies." Oops.<br /><br />The imbalance would have to be addressed with a Constitutional Amendment or Constitutional Convention. I give the first a better chance of happening for Washington D.C. statehood than for reallocating the Senate. As for a Constitutional Convention, that's too dangerous, as the Right is ready and the Left is not.<br /><br />Well, when Alaska was admitted, it had 224,000 residents, so that puts Guam in the same ballpark, if not the U.S. Virgin Islands.<br /><br />I actually appreciated Gingrich's space boosterism, but even that was a far out idea. I'd have to check to see if Elon Musk has anything like that proposed for his Mars colony.Pinku-Senseihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-52022542440214958612018-02-03T23:57:04.254-05:002018-02-03T23:57:04.254-05:00Aaaarrrgh! I can't believe I wrote "part...Aaaarrrgh! I can't believe I wrote "part of <i>there</i> territory". That's what comes of reading all these right-wing websites. Constantly seeing their crappy proofreading and grammar is ruining my sense of correct English.<br /><br />Frankly I think some of our existing states are too small. Wyoming has one-fourth of the population of the Portland metro area. And it gets two Senators? At some point we're going to have to address these anomalies. Maybe consolidate some of the big empty rectangles in the middle of the country into bigger states.<br /><br />The 1840 census (the closest one to the year 1837) showed a total US population of 17 million. Today California alone has twice that. So arguably the minimum state size should now be much larger. On the other hand, if the right-wingers can make use of absurd concepts like Wyoming and North Dakota to skew the Senate, maybe we should be able to do the same with Guam and American Samoa. I'd rather see a more sensible range of sizes, though.<br /><br />Back when Newt Gingrich was a thing, he proposed settling 13,000 people on the Moon and then admitting it as a state. Yes, <i>the Moon</i> as the 51st state of the US. As Jon Stewart said at the time, "Thirteen thousand? That's not a state, that's a condo development!"Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-2597622231505371982018-02-03T20:51:56.143-05:002018-02-03T20:51:56.143-05:00It is and that's why I included the John Olive...It is and that's why I included the John Oliver video. Vox was informative, but it didn't capture the outrageousness and absurdity of the situation.<br /><br />Well, there is a minimum population for a state. The most recent one I can find comes from the admission of Michigan as a state in 1837, which was 60,000. I doubt that has changed. Still, that would exclude both American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, which have populations of 55,000 each. It wouldn't exclude Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as they have populations of ~163,000 and ~103,000, respectively. That's the legality of it. As you point out, the fairness of it would be another matter.<br /><br />Yes, I agree, I think Democrats should promise that, too, and follow through if they win.<br /><br />I can't imagine France doing that to its overseas departments, either. That's the situation most similar to the U.S. among developed countries. The other would be the British Crown Territories like the Cayman Islands.Pinku-Senseihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752611264465083204.post-76654651468122958082018-02-03T10:29:54.380-05:002018-02-03T10:29:54.380-05:00Interesting issue, and the John Oliver video is de...Interesting issue, and the John Oliver video is devastatingly effective.<br /><br />Making Puerto Rico a state seems like a no-brainer -- it has a population about equal to my own state -- but with the other territories it's a bit more tricky. Guam and American Samoa combined have less than half as many people as Wyoming, the lowest-population state we currently have. Maybe we could merge them into Hawaii, or just give them three electoral votes each without dealing with statehood (like DC).<br /><br />I'd like to see Democrats promise to work for Puerto Rican statehood if they retake Congress this year. It might boost turnout among Puerto Ricans living in Florida, which has historically been low.<br /><br />It's beyond belief that after four months a third of the island still doesn't have its electricity back. I can't imagine Germany or Japan being that slow if part of there territory were hit by a similar disaster.Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.com