T1B

'Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option,' said 25-year-old Jerome Lefebre, who picked up his grandfather before driving to the polls. 'We're doing OK, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help.'

Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option,' said 25-year-old Jerome Lefebre, who picked up his grandfather before driving to the polls. 'We're doing OK, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help.

Truman wrote:Marvelous.

Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option,' said 25-year-old Jerome Lefebre, who picked up his grandfather before driving to the polls. 'We're doing OK, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help.

KC Scott wrote:We went to San Juan for vacation last year, we stayed at a really nice resort right on San Juan Beach. first thing we noticed after we had gotten unpacked was the gates out to the beach were locked at 8:00 PM. The workers at the resorts told us it was because of the "tide".

when we went out onto the street, in the heart of the tourist district, we noticed cops in full tac gear every block or two. This was with minimal people out and about. We found a restaurant - ate, went back to the room.

Next AM wee're having breakfast in the concierge lounge and I struck up a conversation with a couple next to us. Turned out they were DOJ down there working with PRPD. Told us the reason the hotel closed the beach was all the crime against tourists. A couple had been robbed / stabbed / killed 200' from our hotel a couple weeks earlier. They also told us for an island with a pop of 3.5 mil, there were just over 40K cops. Supposedly 2nd largest force behind NYPD. They also told us the murder rate was at an all time high due to the drug traffic moving through the island.

We drove a few places during the vacation - did some really cool stuff. The poverty level is absolutely 3rd world though. It makes East St. Louis look like times Square. I guess with some significant investment they could turn it into a real tourist destination, but we wouldn't go back.

Goober McTuber wrote:Been to a number of islands in the Caribbean, but never Puerto Rico. Never heard much to recommend it other than the fishing. It would be pretty far down on my list.

Shoalzie wrote:So, does that mean we can add the PRs to Team USA for the World Baseball Classic? Welcome aboard, Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina!

Truman wrote:Technically, Maryland still holds claim to the land it ceded to DC. You want representatives and senators? Rejoin Maryland. You get to pay federal tax there, too.

Dinsdale wrote:Screwy -- you didn't read the Constitution before you moved to DC?

Screw_Michigan wrote:The same document that said black Americans were only worth 2/3s a white person.

Screw_Michigan wrote:You think Baltimore politicians will allow 200k registered DC Dems onto the MD voter rolls? You are obviously clueless. Stick to topics you know about: Getting your ass kicked in elections, high school football and meth.

Truman wrote:I dunno. Do YOU think the House of Representatives will allow 200k registered DC Dems to have their own Congressional representation? You are obviously clueless. Stick to topics you know about: Getting your ass kicked in laundry rooms, jizz mopping, and having balls dropped in your mouth.

Screw_Michigan wrote:It's only politics keeping DC from its inalienable right to self-representation.

Smackie Chan wrote:It's 3/5, but I'm sure you were lied to before reading the Constitution about there being no math.

Wolfman wrote: Oh, and before I forget. Screwy must know that the 3/5 thing was a compromise to (let me see, what political party did not want to count blacks as people at all?) the other party not wanting to count blacks as people at all. The GOP wanted blacks to be 5/5. I keep being told that compromise is a good thing.

Screw_Michigan wrote:idyllic (look it up, Smackie)

I guess that's OK because it's the Constitution and all.

Screw_Michigan wrote:devalued the rights of black citizens

88 wrote:Personally, I don't believe that the "Founding Fathers" had any sort of divine inspiration in drafting the Constitution. Truth be told, it was mostly a product of them being afraid of just about everything, including most of the people in the room who negotiated the thing. But they weren't stupid either. They recognized that when power is centralized, it naturally becomes tyrannical. So they agreed to form a nation that had a small central government with specific limited powers, which could solve differences arising among and between sovereign "states" that agreed to become federated with each other. What little power was granted by them to the central government was clearly reserved to the states and to the people.

Did the founding fathers make mistakes? Absolutely. The failure to address and prohibit slavery was but one of them. But they were smart enough to devise a framework whereby the people and the states could make amendments to the Constitution to address such mistakes.

The way this country functions today is not at all consistent with the Constitution and the intent of those who drafted, negotiated and ratified it. We presently have a massive central government, weak states and substantially powerless people.

If the majority of the people really want the Constitution to be rewritten to affirmatively permit the expansion and exercise of central authority, then we ought to have a Constitutional Convention and agree to rewrite the damn thing. But the notion that what is going on now is somehow consistent with its current terms makes the entire federal government a complete sham.

Why even have states if the states cannot exercise any power, and if the people living there have no say about what goes on there? We should just have a prime minister, a house of lords and a house of commons and get our massive centralized government moving forward with greater beaurocratic efficiency. Get rid of all state governments. What they hell do we need them for? Just let the feds handle it.

Screw_Michigan wrote:They had a deal in 2006, I believe, to trade a vote in the house for DC for two in Utah (or something like that), and they fucked it up. So yes, they will.

Although you are partially correct. It's only politics keeping DC from its inalienable right to self-representation.

The IKYABWAI is strong in KC tard.

88 wrote:Did the founding fathers make mistakes? Absolutely. The failure to address and prohibit slavery was but one of them.

mvscal wrote:
They weren't citizens and DC isn't and never will be a state. The two situations aren't even remotely comparable.

mvscal wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:devalued the rights of black citizens

No wonder so many balls are being dunked in your mouth.

XXXL wrote:Been wanting to surf PR since forever...

Papa Willie wrote:

Left Seater wrote:PR would for sure be a blue state and looking for more handouts. Plenty of people there now looking for handouts as it is.

But that's votes for us, and that's all we care about!

/s/
Democrats

Wolfman wrote:Statehood for PR is still a ways off, but if it does happen, the US flag will need a redesign.