Who says politicians never listen? Fortunately, sometimes they do.
Article by Zach Smith from Daily Signal.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., recently made clear: “If Congress wants to make D.C. a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment … and let the people of America vote.”
He said April 30 that he and his staff took a “deep dive” into the issue and reached the conclusion that a constitutional amendment would be required for statehood for the District of Columbia.
That’s exactly right.
In fact, the West Virginia lawmaker raised many of the same points that I raised previously when testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on March 22.
Manchin specifically cited conclusions reached by the Justice Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations that a constitutional amendment would be required and noted the concerns of even liberal lions like then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
The West Virginia lawmaker explicitly noted that, in his view, the 23rd Amendment poses the primary obstacle to D.C. statehood through simple legislation. I agree.
The 23rd Amendment would have to be repealed before the bulk of the current District of Columbia could be transformed from our nation’s capital into our nation’s 51st state.
Of course, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser dismissively responded that Manchin “is not right” because “all of the states, outside of the first 13, have been admitted to the Union by Congress; it is the exclusive power of the Congress to pass simple legislation on the admission of new states.”
Simply put: So what?
No other state owes its very existence to a separate constitutional provision as the District does, which is expressly provided for in the District Clause of the Constitution—Article I, Section 8, Clause 17. And no other state has a separate constitutional provision to provide it with Electoral College votes.
In other words, the District of Columbia is unique.
But, unfortunately, Bowser and others pushing for D.C. statehood by simple legislation seem more interested in political theatrics than in those pesky constitutional questions. What else can explain her recent acceptance of membership in the Democratic Governors Association?
As of now, without Manchin on board, D.C. statehood is dead in the Senate—not to mention the fact that other Democratic senators, such as Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., still have not signaled their support, either.
Undeterred, proponents of D.C. statehood are pushing Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chairs the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, to hold a hearing. But not much is likely to change, as the essential issues were presented at the March 22 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.
In the meantime, Manchin should continue to tell his Democratic colleagues in the Senate what’s so: D.C. statehood requires a constitutional amendment.
‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us
Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.
For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.
It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.
The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.
The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.
There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are on track to be short by about $4100 per month in order to maintain operations.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.
During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
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