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1499 Surly 10%About flatdawgs
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- Birthday April 28
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Guy played in Minnesota, Oakland, and Seattle. Clearly brainwashed. (and a real mensch)
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Great points, and I'll of course defer to your knowledge (plus love your avatar; Floripa is awesome). IIRC Bolsonaro was stabbed on stage during a campaign appearance and the event had a similar impact on the electorate as the Trump shooting did (although Bolsonaro was much more seriously injured). The resilience of the Brazilian judiciary is all the more impressive when you take into consideration the political violence and the still extant corruption (great comparison to Louisiana + local DC). The Electoral Court told the blockading truckers to GTFO and they did so. I think there is still some institutional memory of the Diretas Já movement and the end of the military dictatorship; here of course there is no such parallel.
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I read Portuguese sufficiently well enough to follow Brazilian news and politics; one thing I'll note here is that Brasil has a functioning judiciary, one that can go after, at various times, both Lula and Bolsonaro - and release Lula as new shit came to light. That said, right now it appears as though whomever Bolsonaro backs in the upcoming elections will be favored. And then 8 January 2023 happened in Brasília (yes, obviously two months after this statement, but the parallels are striking in many ways - save for the fact that the perpetrator in Brasil was banned from running again for 8 years and is once again under indictment for related crimes. Up here in the "First World," not so much.)
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You post this in response to someone who went to Washington? We have our own big-ass ledge for that. The asteroid would be a vast improvement....
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As if the poor bastards living along that line don't have enough shit to deal with.
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There are a few Texan regulars at my local here in Seattle - most have been here for a few years and primarily came voluntarily for jobs, but as they mostly tend to the liberal side I'm not sure if politics played any part in it as well. Good people. I've progressed relatively far in my plans for relocation to Portugal, although haven't pulled the trigger yet and may not for a bit. The motivation was not political - I live in (for me) a sane enough place, one that just this week voted overwhelmingly to raise taxes for a social housing program first made successful by Viennese social democrats - but should the other Washington remember we exist up here, it might be the impetus to pull the trigger. Good luck to any of you planning it, and remember to not simply look for a place full of other Americans/expats. You'll enjoy the experience a lot more with the locals.
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Every few years, BC folks are polled about who they feel most aligned with in the rest of North America. WA gets between 50-60%, depending on the year (higher recently), CA 15% or so, and nowhere else gets more than around 10% - even other Canadian provinces (Québec gets about 5% lol). Cascadia is a real thing up here in the PNW, although we're quiet and polite about it. Most of us grew up crossing the border frequently, in both directions, although White Rock isn't nearly as interesting as Matamoros or Nuevo Laredo, heh.
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*aboot
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Norway. Tax the hell out of resource extractors for the public benefit (SOCIALISTS!), create a fund currently worth 1.2 trillion dollars with ownership of the equivalent of approximately 1.5% of all shares traded on the world's markets. Norway has 5.5 million people. We, on the other hand, will give it all to 6 or 7 Toddler Kings.
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My critter - former chair of the House Progressive Caucus and representing a seat Harris won 85-11 - is doing the same shit, posting "statements". 100% of the responses on Bluesky to each one are identical to the above: "Stop posting and do something!" Perhaps it's time to realize that these people are just representatives, not leaders. It would allow our low expectations to be met.
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Clearcutting still exists here (although regulated to some extent by using buffer zones, variable-density harvesting, etc. and mandatory replanting) and although it has been severely limited (on federal lands) since the NW Forest Plan 25 years ago, it still occurs there under the guise of other NFS projects, most recently in the Colville NF. On private lands, which are extensive due to the checkerboarding of federal land grants to the railroads, it's more extensive and subject only to state regs. In WA these are relatively weak due to, among other things, the fact that the state constitution to this day allocates school construction funds from timber sales revenues. You're quite correct (as I'd expect with your background and experience) that more of this occurs outside the NF boundaries than inside, which can be pretty clearly seen in the checkerboard patterns on satellite images.
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We already log in the national forests. We always have. NFs are for resource management, not preservation; side benefits such as camping and hiking are just that. I've spent my entire life spending time in the Cascades of WA and OR - most of which is national forest land - and I guarantee that not only does logging still go on in them, quite often you can't even get to where you think you are going because the Forest Service roads are gated to allow for timber extraction. Oregon is still primarily a resource colony due to timber, despite most of the mills in the PNW having shut down 40 years ago - since then softwoods have been exported to Asia to be milled there. Washington's economy is far more diverse and the state is much wealthier (3rd highest GDP per capita in the nation, ahead of California [4] and Texas [16]), but even here the timber industry is important and a good deal of that occurs in the national forests. A tariff war above and beyond the three-decade long timber wars would hurt not because you can't get the trees, but because there is no longer anywhere to turn them into lumber.
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July? Ya gotta go when stuff sucks before you decide. Seattle, for example, is chock-full of people who came out to spend time in July or August, when it's the best place on earth, saying "lol it doesn't rain here that much!" Yeah, come back in the fall/winter. If you can make it through November, you're a local. Chilly, foggy, drizzly is what you want to experience on the central California coast. I spent a June and part of a July in Tavira (Portugal); fell in love with it. I had to go back during a November to make sure it was right for me. Good luck - y'all would be a great addition to the Best Coast.
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Brisket, You're one of the people on this barge of reprobates I'd most like to treat to a drink IRL, and I've no doubt that is in no small part due to your father's love and guidance even when you - like most of us - wanted nothing to do with it. Having read your posts for years, I also have no doubt that you have done the same for your kids; you and your wife are to credit for that, of course, but your parents also live on through that and through you as well. I lost my Dad - damn - 38 years ago, and Mom nearly 10 now, but they are always nearby even though I can't ask them all the things I wish I still could. They still bring a smile and a sense of warmth to me, as I know your Dad forever will to you. Thank you for what was a beautiful eulogy, and for reminding us of our own fathers, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yours was heavily tilted towards the good. Be well, take solace in your memories, your family, and the good man he helped you become, and I'll see ya out on the ledge now and again. (Jeez, man, I can't follow your post and South Austin's! SMDH.)
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America's Foreign Policy & Other Shit Going On Around the World thread
flatdawgs replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Fun Nauru fact - before their phosphate (guano) and therefore money ran out, they owned a tower in downtown Melbourne that the Aussies fondly called "Bird Shit House." Gotta love Australia.
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