Should the US hand over Minnesota's Northwest Angle to Canada?
It's a geographic curiosity - a bit of US land at the top edge of Minnesota, disconnected from the rest of the state. The Northwest Angle is known to local residents, people who love to fish - the region is famous for its walleye - and geography buffs. It is accessible by land only through the Canadian province.
Now, someone has anonymously launched a petition urging the US to hand the land over to its northern neighbours. "Make America great by correcting this critical survey error," states the petition posted on 30 December on the White House "We the People" site, which allows citizens to petition Congress on issues that matter to them. The petition is titled "Give Canada back the Northwest Angle located in Manitoba".
The nub of Minnesota state is roughly 123 square miles (318 square km) and is farther north than any other part of the contiguous United States. Living above the 49th parallel, Angleites - as local residents are known - are the northernmost American citizens, barring Alaskans. It can be reached by driving through Canada or by boat across the Lake of the Woods.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:10PM (4 children)
Build the Walleye! Build the Walleye!
(Score: 3, Touché) by driverless on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:46AM (3 children)
Huh, you're just angling for +1 Funny mods...
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday January 05 2019, @06:04AM (2 children)
And it seems it was a successful fishing expedition....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @10:25AM (1 child)
These jokes are only borderline funny.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @08:07PM
Found the edge lord!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:11PM (4 children)
I bet Aristachu can tell if it leans to the right or the left angle, alto or soprano.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:07AM (2 children)
Who is this AC who fails to append a terminal sigma to my name? Concerning, as the kids say these days.
And didn't we just have a political submission a day or so ago? Maybe we are having too many political discussions on SN, and not enough "X number of things you need to know about X" articles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:21AM
Twas not I, Asscratchus. Perhaps you need a kill -9 rather than a terminal sigma?
(Score: 5, Funny) by RamiK on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:33AM
Maybe they declined Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σάμιος with dative / genitive / koine / modern as τον Αρίσταρχο το Σάμιο or through the Latin? You only have yourself to blame for this: If you only taught Anon's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's properly this would never had happened.
Personally I avoid declining borrowed nouns after being thoroughly traumatized in my Latin and Greek studies over all the conflicting inflections. Data forever!
compiling...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:24AM
If the US-Canada border was a straight line in its entirety (as it is west of the nub) except for the nub itself, yes. But since from the nub Eastward it is not perfectly straight or even perfectly angular, then no, the nub does not induce the necessary ADD to hand it back to the Canadians.
A good similar example is the number of states in America. Though it might be a good idea to add more states, the potential of massively triggered autism resulting from fucking up such the nice round number fifty prevents the people from doing so even if they don't admit this directly* and it could be easily accommodated in the new flag. Hence, we have "territories" rather than states.
* And no doubt it would be beneficial to the Democrats to convert territories into states, for territories are all Democratic welfare-votes
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:25PM (3 children)
Angleites themselves have been asking for it for decades. I remember seeing something about it on tv almost 30 years ago. They'd gladly become canadian citizens if it meant no longer having to go through customs twice just to go grocery shopping, or when the kids go to school.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:20AM
TFA says the opposite, based on its interview sampling of roughly 1% of Angleites (1 person).
(Score: 1) by bussdriver on Saturday January 05 2019, @02:55AM
FYI: Nearly all of it is state park or WATER; it's a huge mistake that only could have been made while the lake was frozen. So few people live in the small part that you can live in.
I'm from MN. We don't care. Give it to Canada. It costs more to keep it, it was a mistake from the start. MN has the most fishing spots in the country; plenty of walleye too. We will never miss it. As far as the border crossing, you can hardly even notice in many places up there when you do cross over. Just treat it like the Lake Superior border already.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday January 05 2019, @09:50AM
I was going to suggest a referendum, but we have seen a couple of times lately that the losers are incapable of accepting the result.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:26PM
everyone thinking their opinion should matter when it seems the business of the residents of the "angle" who apparently want to remain with the US.
Also, winter means it is an island only half the year.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:41PM (13 children)
but we have to get back Baja from Mexico. Fuck! We should just take it back. Who's gonna stop us?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @11:51PM (2 children)
YOUR MOM
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:31AM (1 child)
Yes, el Madre Santa Muerte, [wikipedia.org] who has at her disposal over nine-thousand AK rifles, chainsaws, armored 80's Chevy pickup trucks and Cutlass Supremes riding low to the ground, and hordes of loyal soldiers on meth willing to do her bidding.
Attempting to take Baja would be a bad idea. If you think Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Vietnam were bad for us; then you ain't seen nuthin' yet. And with the additional strength of an additional 6000+ soldiers hardened in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador; Baja will be unstoppable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:25AM
We just have to send in a bunch of crop dusters and spray fentanyl (poppies, poppies, sleep, sleep)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:25AM
That wall we're building ...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:27AM (1 child)
Or you could give Mexico Texas back.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:12AM
Don't give it back, sell Texas back to Mexico to pay for the Wall.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:58AM (4 children)
it's kind of the other way around no? you should give back texas and california to mexico. now I don't think that would be bad at all
(Score: 3, Funny) by fustakrakich on Saturday January 05 2019, @02:30AM
I think we should give the continent back to the first lungfish that crawled up on shore. In fact, to be fair, we must roll back evolution to the first single cell life forms at least.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Saturday January 05 2019, @09:37AM
What? Sell them! California at least... Look at all that massive tax burden - I mean revenue stream. Give the state a valuation like it's a company with those profits. Americathon auction!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Nuke on Saturday January 05 2019, @10:07AM (1 child)
But the Mexican government encouraged USA-ians (Gringos) to settle in those areas in the late 1800's. This was because the areas had got out of control, riddled with bandits, and the Gringos were expected to "gentrify" them. That is the background to Clint Eastwood's spagetti westerns.
But the Gringos took control from both bandits AND Mexico, and the areas ultimately passed to the USA (although Texas under the Gringos had ideas of being an independent nation - the Lone Star state). So things did not work out how the Mexican government hoped. That strategy never does : a previous example is the Romans in Britain inviting the first Anglo-Saxons to settle, and, in the present day, European politicians inviting Muslims to do so.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday January 05 2019, @11:38AM
Sorry, I meant early 1800's for the Mexican encouragement of Gringo immigration - slip of the brain. Austin was one of the first to organise a colony of English speaking settlers within Mexican Texas, around 1820.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:25AM (1 child)
wtf is this "baja"?
Do you really mean the Baja California peninsula? The Mexican state of Baja California Norte? Or Baja California Sud?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @06:32AM
Sur buey!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:02AM (1 child)
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:10PM
Canada would never accept Point Roberts, it is their highest grossing drugs & illegal items confiscation point in the country. That crossing is a pure cash cow. All due to a tricky road sign on the highway to the Vancouver Island ferry, that at a glance seems to indicate you should turn left for the ferry. That left takes you through Tsawwassen and after a few miles the single lane tree and neighbourhood lined suburban street throws up a giant 'YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE USA' sign. When you see that sign you've already passed into no mans land...and must pass back through Canadian customs/immigration. There they politely confiscate all your illegal goods, and your car, charge you fines for the illegal goods, then charge you $250 to get your car back, and send you on your way. The agents are all nice and know full well the golden goose they have, often times customs does not even report (disconnected and non-communicable systems) the incident to immigration. I know of this because of a foaf...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:25AM (12 children)
Never would the greatest president the country has ever seen just *give* something away. But maybe he could negotiate a great deal like trading it for Alberta.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:53AM (11 children)
Take Quebec...YOU can put up with the whining: "Give us this and that and that....or we'll SEPARATE!"
"Take my Quebec. Please!"
--Rodney ChampdeDanger
My Canada includes provinces that don't whine about how little they get when they're given more than they pay in taxes.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:32AM (3 children)
Typical bullshit-regurgitating quebec-bashing basement dweller who's NEVER set foot in quebec. Never been out of his hometown I bet.
Do you know which province has the oldest recurring secessionnist movement in canada ? Alberta. Bet you didn't know that, ignorant worthless little shitfuck.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Gaaark on Saturday January 05 2019, @04:00AM (2 children)
Oh boohoo, found the Quepecker in the group.
Take more in taxes than you give and STILL whine and now you call ME a shit fuck.
Separate and see how well you do with your arenas falling apart and your infrastructure failing.
GIVE ME MY TAXES BACK or separate: put up or shut up little french-dick.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:59PM (1 child)
Huh? I'm confused. I thought Canadians were reasonable people. You two sound like Americans to me.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday January 06 2019, @03:07AM
We all have our Trumps: mine is the stupidity of Quebec whining about how badly they're treated while taking more than they give.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 4, Informative) by dry on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:56AM (6 children)
I think you're mixing up Quebec and Alberta. It's Alberta that is always threatening separation due to evil Liberals not building pipelines fast enough. It's Alberta who bitch about not getting enough transfer payments from Ottawa just because they don't believe in paying Provincial taxes or charging oil companies a royalty. It's Alberta that bitches about the Liberals not doing in a couple of years what Harper's government didn't do in a decade. It's Alberta starting trade wars over not being able to ship bitumen. It's Alberta that refuses to build refineries and sell gasoline to the rest of the country leaving us to get ass raped by the Americans.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday January 05 2019, @04:12AM
So, you haven't been around for the referendums, the "My Canada includes Quebec" shit etc.
You haven't heard about the Quebec communities in Florida trying to push French as the second language to the point they have to vote that there are only 2 official languages there: English and Spanish, fuck the French whingers.
Quebeckers were given 'speshul' status by Pierre fecking Trudeau and now Canada has to support the French EVERYWHERE even in places there are no French or like in Toronto where there are far more Chinese speakers than French but by God they get better service.
Sheeit, they've finally shut up because they realise they are better IN Canada than out, but it's taken too long and Trudeau gave them toooo much because, SURPRISE, he's French!
Alberta hasn't whined NEARLY as much: they're only doing so now because they spent all the oil money that was coming in. If they'd spent less and been forward thinking and gone into some green energy, they wouldn't be so bad off.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday January 05 2019, @04:15AM (2 children)
Sorry...don't mean to take out Quebec on you.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:00AM (1 child)
Here, on the wet coast, we notice Alberta more.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday January 06 2019, @03:08AM
Ah, yeah: I guess that WOULD be true.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:32AM (1 child)
aren't most of the tar sands projects invested in heavily by American interests? They would rather expand refining capacity in Texas in order to export refined products? But thats the point of Trudeau's pipeline to BC, except to export the raw bitumen sludge, so probably to minimize any VAT/GST on it either...
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:49AM
American, Dutch, British, some Chinese I believe, but probably mostly American. The argument is always that there is too much refining capacity now, yet it seems every second week there's a refinery shutdown and the price of gas goes up instantly. Takes a while to go down though and never goes down as much. jack it up to $1.60 a litre and people are happy at $1.40, just like it was when oil was a $150 a barrel. Refineries are making record profits and I guess that's what is important.
The GST isn't really an issue as businesses don't pay it, or rather get reimbursed generally. It's just a quicker buck to export the rare material.
There's also the argument that the tankers are just going to take it to Texas as well. Can't get that big of tankers that far up the inlet and it is hard to see it being worthwhile shipping small amounts across the Pacific, but maybe they'll return full of gasoline.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:39AM (2 children)
Tunnel under the lake.
Build a causeway.
Trade it for a chunk along the shoreline adjacent to the rest of the USA.
Trade it for an equal-sized sliver of Alberta.
Trade it for an island in the great lakes.
Trade it for the sibling of Niagra Falls.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Saturday January 05 2019, @06:02AM (1 child)
Expand US borders to the North.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @03:45PM
Fifty-four forty or fight!
http://www.ushistory.org/us/29b.asp [ushistory.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @12:51AM (2 children)
Why not trade something for it? I'm sure they have something we want. Maybe it's not even land.
(Score: 4, Funny) by jimbrooking on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:10AM (1 child)
Like pot?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @06:51AM
Maple syrup. The good stuff. *dabs a bit on pinky and tastes*. "Yep, it's pure".
(Score: 1) by NateMich on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:25AM
This won't happen because nobody cares.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:52AM
While we're on the subject of straightening out illogically convoluted borders, perhaps we could do a swap with Mexico? Make the New Mexico/Mexico border a nice smooth line, like it is between Mexico and Arizona. Would save someone money on that border wall, wouldn't have to be as long.
And if both of those ideas go through-- smoothing the northern Minnesota and southern New Mexico borders, that is-- maybe it would set a precedent against gerrymandering?
(Score: 2) by CZB on Saturday January 05 2019, @02:05AM (2 children)
Other than the beauty of seeing straight lines on maps, I'm not seeing any reason to go through the hassle.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ekerin on Saturday January 05 2019, @02:37AM (1 child)
Save money on border security through simplification of unnecessary customs scrutiny?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @09:59AM
Unnecessary? Tell that to the nazis working the border.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @11:41PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_boundary_dispute#%22Fifty-four_Forty_or_Fight!%22 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by eravnrekaree on Sunday January 06 2019, @12:23AM
No. Maybe give people who live there a special border pass to let them move through quickly. Or, if they do not like it, they could always move down south. I would bet that many of the people that live there like the oddity which is why they moved there in the first place. Its a cool little oddity and that makes life interesting, so it should be kept.