Posted on 04/13/2021 7:30:15 PM PDT by blueplum
A group of 47 academics from top U.S. universities lambasted a proposed bill that would determine Puerto Rico's territorial status through a convention process.
In a letter sent Monday to a group of bipartisan congressional leaders, the academics, led by Columbia Law School's Christina Ponsa-Kraus, said the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which was introduced by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), "disserves its purported goal perpetuating the pernicious myth that [multiple sovereignty] options exist. They do not."
"There are two, and only two, real self-determination options for Puerto Rico: statehood and independence. Yet the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act defies constitutional reality by calling upon Puerto Ricans to define other non-territorial options. There are no other non-territorial options," reads the letter, which also was signed by professors at Harvard Law School.
Velázquez's bill would create a status convention to modify the territory's sovereign status from among a wide range of possibilities, including...a range of hybrid statuses whose constitutionality the letter's signatories call into question.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“Hawaii should be independent too, restore the monarchy.”
Zuckerberg could be King.
Captain Cook of England discovered Hawaii. Give Hawaii to England. They deserve the grief.
Funny how the Union Jack is still on the Flag of Hawaii.
Maybe Tulsi can be Queen.
then as now, Hawaiian independence would last about 2 minutes. Then, Russia, Japan or England; now, (Japan first but ultimately) China
We would still have bases there.
A lot of people thought that about the Philippines too.
And now it looks more and more like the Philippines will be a Chinese territory soon.
I”m reminded of Feb 2020, when Guam denied entry to the MSWesterdam cruise ship and to the USS Roosevelt in March, the Roosevelt eventually allowed to dock under tight restrictions. Fat lot of good having bases there did. Our sailors were treated like lepers.
memory lane:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/10/guam-locals-worried-about-coronavirus-hit-navy-ships-quarantine
https://news.yahoo.com/ex-acting-navy-secretarys-trip-014058178.html
https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/local/2020/02/07/guam-denies-entry-ship-over-coronavirus-concerns/4687803002/
During my military ‘era’, I worked with a Puerto Rican who sat one day and drew out the whole mess.
In simple terms, if you had a hundred PR folks in a room....they’d give you a hundred variations of what they want or don’t want. In this nutshell, there is no way to appease folks. They do want jobs, but they don’t want taxation. They want the corruption driven out, but literally beg for corruption to work because the system is so screwed up.
It wouldn’t even surprise me....if they got statehood, and twelve months later....sixty-percent of the residents want it dissolved and to go back to the old system.
And what a wierd and incredibly complex one.
#7. Independence for Puerto Rico would enable a Cuban/Venezuelan/Communist state and military staging base against the US in less than a generation.
Not a good idea.
yeah their doing such a great job, look what they did during the hurricane
Cuba is closer than PR.
They want “independence” (no federal control) and U.S. citizenship.
What they should really do is just negotiate with a President and then get Congress to agree to modifications of their territorial status and relations with the federal government.
They do not really “need” to be able to elect federal officers or to be part of the U.S. Congress. There are issues that can be dealt with and improved upon by changes to federal laws and rules that affect Puerto Rico.
For instance, Puerto Rico with a much softer economy and lower standard of living is forced to apply federal minimum wage laws on its labor market. It’s stupid and only helps keep unemployed the folks with the least education and skills, worsening economic conditions in Puerto Rico. Congress and the president can pass and approve legislation that would change that.
Every issue that Puerto Rico has in its relations with the Federal government - outside of being politically integrated into the U.S, - can be resolved with Puerto Rican and federal officials that really want to resolve them, without any change in Puerto Rico’s basic status.
On the other hand, as U.S. Citizens, the men of Puerto Rico have on the whole made very fine U.S. soldiers when they chose to be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.