• @finitebanjo
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    2024 days ago

    Just take statehood away from North Dakota and give it to PR so we can keep the number of stars and stripes.

    • Captain Aggravated
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      1724 days ago

      Number of stripes isn’t going to change; it’ll stay at 13.

      50 stars is boomer shit. Time for 51.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        1124 days ago

        Change the number of stripes, too. Add blue stripes, turn the red stripes pink, and ditch the Bald Eagle for a shark.

        Only then will America truly be Woke.

          • Schadrach
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            123 days ago

            That’s actually an interesting question. SCOTUS kinda dodged answering it, though there’s a 1970 decision that seems to imply they accept WV’s validity. The ultimate question comes down to if states that left to form the Confederacy were still US states during that period, because that determines whether or not the clause in the Constitution about creating a state from territory held by another state applies. If Virginia was under the US Constitution during the Civil War then yeah, WV is an illegal state.

      • @Duamerthrax
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        424 days ago

        And North Carolina and South Carolina while we’re at it.

        • @surewhynotlem
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          224 days ago

          That would make space for DC statehood as well.

      • @finitebanjo
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        224 days ago

        South Dakota is cool so they can just be in charge of ND from now on.

        • @[email protected]
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          124 days ago

          Having lived in both, sounds like ND would be the only one benefitting there. Have Noem and Burgum fight for which state has the power.

          • @finitebanjo
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            24 days ago

            ND is a shithole with an insignificant population, its the capital of the US in terms of wild dogs and birth defects correlating with flare stack methane emissions.

            The best part of ND would be the natives, but given their sovereignty they won’t be affected by the changeover.

            • @WoahWoah
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              124 days ago

              ND rates high in birth defects? I didn’t know that. I tried looking up data, but everything from CDC, March of Dimes, and studies done by ND universities put the state about dead center among other states. Do you have a link about this statistic? I would like to learn more.

              • @finitebanjo
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                24 days ago

                AFAIK there is no study comparing the rates of birth defects in new births every year by state, though just about every state tracks it, rather most states only get rated by number of infant mortalities which is a different stat: only 1 in 4 fatalities are from birth defects.

                My comment was just a big sharp jab at North Dakota for its policies, but if there was any truth to it that was because of methane emissions correlating highly. ND has the second largerst emissions per capita in 2017 according to World Research Institute and those emissions are further concentrated to specific counties involved in the oilfield. Articles talking about emissions impacts on public health like This One point out that 80% of Fracking is done in Texas and North Dakota, and articles like This Other Article which also mentions North Dakota specifically. NRDC also has a write up about reduced weight as a result of emissions and exposure, and it again mentions North Dakota by name.

                Unfortunately, though, no. I don’t have data to back up my earlier claim.

                • @WoahWoah
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                  224 days ago

                  Oh no problem, I wasn’t trying to play gotcha. But thanks for this info. I don’t know much about ND.

    • Schadrach
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      324 days ago

      Combine the Dakotas. Combine Montana and Wyoming. Make Puerto Rico a state. Return the vast majority of the District of Columbia back to Virginia and Maryland, save a core that actually contains the Capitol, White House, etc (to retain the point - which was that the seat of federal government is not subject to any state).

      • @buddascrayon
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        124 days ago

        I think you underestimate the political power Wyoming wields. For a clue, take a look at one of Wyoming’s largest industries.