Free Republic

They’re going to go around in circles on this because the “procedures and policies” are absolutely worded to neutral.

The problem is that the procedures FB and other networks use to provision their filters includes “crowd sourced” complaints, and the serially offended LIBERAL users use this mechanism to report every conservative voice they can.

Conservatives generally believe that people have a right to say what they want and if we disagree with someone we use the built-in mechanisms to filter them from our feeds. Liberals approach the question of freedom of speech from a more “dictatorial” view that disagreement with them is “oppression” and they respond by using the provided mechanisms to report “oppressive” content and get it filtered from the public feed.

The end result is censorship because the Networks can see the statistics that show their crowd sourcing mechanisms are being abused by the Liberals, but because they don’t disagree with that abuse, they allow it and enable it.

You are absolutely right. They either need to be with us - or they need to be put out for being against us.

I'm going to assume that you mean forcing the territories into independence or statehood and that you're not advocating stealing land we own and still hold legally under both U.S. and local laws. I mean, where would you deport the Americans whose ancestors have lived in those territories for thousands of years to?

So I'm just going to assume you meant independence or statehood, and I agree that every territory should be encouraged constantly to reach for statehood. American Samoa is slightly different since it is more like a U.S. version of a "trust territory" and would likely be treated more like a Native American reservation. I believe the other territories though were acquired via conquest, so their legal basis is very different from American Samoa.

I think her business interests are with the Marshall Islands territory and the labor laws related to the fish processing industry there. The “temporary’ workers in the factories depress wages radically for the whole territory.

Actually it is American Samoa, and the temporary workers did receive a lower wage than normal residents, but the net benefit of their employment and the economic activity around both canneries was positive for the territory.

The loss of one cannery caused a recession and the territory hasn't recovered. The politicians, rather than taking effective measures to revamp the tax code to attract investment, and rather than paying their bills to private sector vendors, has chosen to increase hiring for public sector jobs, and this has severely impacted public services, and created a huge spending and budget crisis. They're raising taxes again this week to try and make up for it, but frankly that's stupid because they don't even collect all the taxes they're owed from all the cheating that goes on, so this means that only the honest businesses and honest people will be paying full taxes and the not so honest will prosper, which will in turn cause more problems and more corruption.

American Somoans are not a problem for America, it is the hordes of millions illegals with no cultural ties to our country trying to enter and get a free ride.

Just need to educate the rest of the conservatives so none of them jump straight to "deport 'em" without realizing you can't deport an American... from America.

Although, i was flying into the country once (and I'm a U.S. citizen) to visit my brother, and I forgot my brother's address and the ICE agent was going to refuse me entry. I should have let him push it all the way up to a supervisor but I bent to his requirement and just stepped out of line and called my brother for his address.

We love our Samoan jokes, but that one is just lame.

What do you call a car full of Samoans?

Lowrider.

That’s how it is done.

What does Pelosi have to say about all this ?

Last time I checked Pelosi backed away from supporting the canneries when Republicans tried to shame her into dropping the stupid and ill conceived minimum wage increase bill.

I remember that they pointed out her hypocrisy expecting her to back down and withdraw the bill, but she double downed and removed the exemption for the territory and the result was the territory lost nearly 1/5 of its private sector jobs and 1/2 of its cannery driven GDP.

The few years after were particularly tough and it didn't help that Obama let the Chinese lock the U.S. out of the Kiribati fisheries, and allowed tax free imports for canned tuna from South East Asian countries.

Yes, Republicans can put the blame for the poor economic conditions in American Samoa squarely on Democrats.

Thank you, for the detail on American Samoa’s background regarding becoming a territory. I was already acquainted with the Samoans tight relationship and now understand how it came about.

You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read up on it.

Crap...I always thought Samoans were all US citizens. I’ve served with a good number in the military.

Many of them naturalize. It isn't difficult or hard, just mildly inconvenient sometimes. It used to be a lot easier but I think Clinton's administration changed the process. Naturalized American Samoans were probably voting Republican, so they put an end to the simpler process.

You don’t really seem to understand the issues involved. I would suggest more reading.

You can’t kick people off of their own land anymore. At most the U.S. can change the relationship with the territory by an act of Congress.

Your options are:

1) Force them to a become fully autonomous and independent, like the U.S. did to the Philippines.
2) Make the territory into a Free Associated State (independent but foreign policy and defense are led by U.S.).
3) Maintain the status quo.

There is no option to kick people off their land and out of their ancestral homeland, that they still own. And did you even read the above?

Apologies, it has been so long since I posted something that I didn’t post enough of the body of my opinion piece.

Here it is:

(AUCKLAND, New Zealand) - In response to a recent The Hill article that covered the latest lawsuit for birthright citizenship, the Hon. Delegate to Congress for AMERICAN SAMOA, Amata Radewagen, wrote “the Hill’s headline ‘American Samoa residents sue for citizenship’ is not accurate”. She’s right. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are no longer residents of American Samoa, but are residents of the Great State of Utah. She goes on the explain that the majority of American Samoans who reside in American Samoa do not desire birthright citizenship and prefer to maintain the status quo, and that the courts have agreed with the majority to support the status quo.

A few years ago, a District Court Judge in the case titled Tuaua v. United States, rejected these same arguments. The DC Court of Appeals rejected these theories again, ruling by a 3-0 margin and the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal on the case. The majority of the elected and traditional leaders in American Samoa filed briefs in opposition to the plaintiffs attempt at a universal citizenship mandate for American Samoans, fully expressing the broad sentiment of the people of American Samoa and the courts to date have unanimously agreed with that majority of the populace.

- Radewagen, http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/383026-preserve-choice-but-simplify-citizenship-for-us-nationals

However, and this is where Amata has taken a step in the right direction, rather than just lay out how the majority who reside in American Samoa are opposed to yet another attempt to use the courts to take away their rights to self determine their individual choice to naturalize or not, Amata is proposing a legislative solution that would ease the naturalization process for Americans Samoans. This is a solution that all Americans should support as it addresses the minor injustice of bureaucratic inconvenience for U.S. Nationals, who are legal residents from birth, raised and educated in American schools, speak English with a California accent, and who view themselves as AMERICAN patriots from childhood and into adulthood.

So before the knee jerk ignorants start proclaiming the injustice of the lack of birthright citizenship, or that AMERICAN Samoans are foreigners who shouldn’t get a special path to citizenship, let us share and educate those who don’t know much or anything at all about America’s most remote possession.

1) AMERICAN Samoans are proud to be AMERICAN. So proud that this tiny territory of 55K souls contributes more volunteers to the United States armed forces per capita than ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE USA. There isn’t a family in American Samoa that hasn’t been touched by tragedy through the loss of a serving US service member in combat. There isn’t a generation of any family in the territory that in the last 100 years hasn’t lost loved ones in battle while wearing the uniform of the United States, from World War I and II, to Korea and Vietnam, and the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. Do not question an AMERICAN Samoan’s AMERICAN-ism. It is an argument you will lose badly.
2) AMERICAN Samoa was not conquered by the US. The chiefs allied with the United States and negotiated a treaty that has on the whole been highly favorable for the territory over the past century plus. The treaty protected the islands from the encroachment of Britain and Germany in the late 1800s, and it explicitly called on the US to protect the Samoan way of life.
3) Most AMERICAN Samoans are happy to be US Nationals and maintain that status as part of the deal that allows us to keep our culture, land, and government the way they are.
4) We believe that extending birthright citizenship will endanger our system of Nobility, our racial protections of our lands, and our right to choose a form of government that suits our culture. All of these things are incompatible with US citizenship and the US Constitution.

A simpler path to citizenship for US Nationals who choose to live in one of the US states or serve in the military is not asking for a lot since AMERICAN Samoans attend AMERICAN schooling, learn AMERICAN history, and study AMERICAN literature. A simpler path just recognizes that in all the ways that matter the choice for an AMERICAN Samoan to choose to become a citizen is a choice that other Americans should support and facilitate as a step up in individual responsibility and allegiance. It should be celebrated and should not be cheapened with this birthright nonsense, nor should it be denied because some don’t know the proud history of our voluntary alliance and partnership with the United States to preserve our culture, lands, and way of life.

We proudly fly the AMERICAN flag in AMERICAN Samoa and celebrate its anniversary every year, and again this year in the coming weeks. American citizens should proudly welcome and facilitate any of our Nationals who choose citizenship as natural brothers and sisters in the AMERICAN way. By far we are more AMERICAN than any of the DREAMERS, because our ancestors and people have fought, bled, and died on behalf of America for over a hundred years as part of our bargain. And America has lived up to its end of the bargain, protecting our lands, our culture, and our way of life for all these years.

So, please consider this an education and also an entreaty to support this initiative by Amata Radewagon. Our people have earned a simpler path to citizenship, purchased with our voluntary allegiance to a flag and government so different from our own native ways, but we neither want or desire to have birthright citizenship extended to our lands. Let each man and woman born in the territory make the choice for themselves, and as Amata puts it, to do so according to their situation and circumstance.

This is my opinion, but I know it will resonate with many from my home Islands.

She [Amata] goes on the explain that the majority of American Samoans who reside in American Samoa do not desire birthright citizenship and prefer to maintain the status quo, and that the courts have agreed with the majority to support the status quo.

Should organize a Conservative sit-in at Starbucks.

Only two rules, stay as long as you like, and don’t buy anything.

There are some days I wish we had a “Like” button... ;-)

"the regions where plates break are often where we find major oil and gas deposits"

An argument for abiotic oil.

It’s sort of the same consequences with every other species that has been declared endangered via the endangered species act.

1) Development not allowed.
2) Recreational activities not allowed.
3) Subsistence fishing and foraging not allowed.
4) Engaging in any activity that might conceivably harm the protected species in anyway.
5) Expand Federal oversight and jurisdiction over something or over an area which was previously governed and enforced via local government and law enforcement.

Terrorists have never been good for anyone’s health regardless really. *shrug*

I love bacon. Too much. It borders on insanity. It is probably very unhealthy. Emotionally - separation from bacon causes anxiety.

I also have feelings for eggs.

That being said, a good steak always wins.

I have to comment that it is nice to be able to post a story about American Samoa and our government that does not involve Federal scrutiny and criminal investigations.

Sorry to say, but based on what she’s set as her goals - exercise it is.

Losing 150 lbs. is like misplacing a whole, average sized person.