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flatdawgs

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by flatdawgs

  1. Yeah, there's been a movement here (Seattle) to switch to even years; the state lege forced all municipalities into off-year elections in 1969, so both municipal and state law would need to change. Turnout in off years even in a vote by mail state like WA is about half of even-year elections. That said, terms would be shortened by a year at the bridge rather than adding an extra year as Miami is doing. Oh well, at least we're going to ranked-choice primaries in two years.
  2. 30-35% +/- is baseline in most countries; it's the fact that we have a two-party system that exacerbates it (Portugal's far-right Chega party, for example, took 35% in last month's elections but they did not take power as the other two major parties locked them out; similar percentages are found in recent elections from France to Brasil). Not great, but certainly not an outlier.
  3. Spokane is a purply-bluish city (fun fact: Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley represented Spokane's congressional district, albeit 40 years ago; much more recently the state House speaker was a Democrat from Spokane). That said, 5 miles out of town in any direction and you hear banjos; 10 to the east and you're in northern Idaho. Every year some Republican backbencher from the area floats secession from the state; this year they kind of gave up on that and now are onto "autonomous region", meaning "we don't want you to tell us what to do, but please keep sending us that sweet, sweet tax money to pay for all of our services." So - hell yeah, Spokane!
  4. Well, that was post-Balfour, which came from that imperial British genius of promising everything to everyone, all at once.
  5. David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace is a great read on the topic, although at 35 years old or so it's not fully up to date. That said it's a very good survey on the end of the Ottoman Empire from the Young Turk movement pre-WWI to Ataturk; the effect of the war on Türkiye, the Levant, and Palestine; and the creation of the modern Middle East.
  6. 51,600 in Seattle to see a result everyone knew would happen, 3pm on a Thursday. Kudos to Atlético Madrid for taking it seriously and trying to close their goal differential in the group. (I would have loved to have found those Miami $4 tickets, but the prices never dropped and the cheap seats went for $65.)
  7. The best thing about that is that Kalama/Longview are deep in the heart of the Alabama of Western Washington. It's as MAGA as a D+20 state gets. Love this thing.
  8. Ah, but I speak enough Portuguese to have fun with the Brazilian fans, and am enjoying drinking with them. The match was actually entertaining.
  9. Going to Sounders v Botafogo this evening in the Group o' Death - wouldn't likely be competitive even if the Sounders weren't banged up, but I'm still looking forward to seeing some of these teams I'd probably never see otherwise.
  10. Went to both rallies/marches in Seattle - most of the suburbs also had one, including the one Rick Steves was at above. The one at the UW had a couple thousand (it was commencement today as well, so a bit more challenging to get to). The main march had 70,000 estimated; it filled the entire 2 mile route from end to end. Many, many others lined the streets and rooftops and leaned out windows cheering and banging pots. No damage, no hassle, nothing at all went awry. No cops at all visible at the UW; downtown there were none along the route as they were a block to either side keeping the cross streets closed. Trains ran every couple of minutes all day to get people in and out. Great day, made greater by all the posts from fellow Surlyites from cities and towns far and near, big and small.
  11. Apropos of nothing, I think it would be great if Exxon honored its Standard Oil (SO) legacy by rebranding their US service stations as "Esso". You know, as a tip of the hat to history.
  12. Conflating Arab-Americans and Muslims isn't completely accurate - according to the Arab American Institute, only about 25% of Arab-Americans are Muslim, with about 2/3 being Christian (five of the most populous Muslim nations - Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Türkiye - aren't Arab at all). The terms shouldn't be used interchangeably.
  13. UW campus one in Seattle (it's two stops closer on the train, lol). I'm actually sorry I'll have just missed the one in Lisbon - yes, Democrats Abroad Portugal is holding one there.
  14. Well, all that and the food will be 1000x better.
  15. Both interesting places. Eritrea has a surprising amount of decent art deco and Italian Modernist colonial architecture, mostly in Asmara - as an architect with an interest in colonial design and local adaptations, I found it fascinating. Unfortunately Niger is not the most welcoming place right now, due in no small part to our Russian/Wagner PMO "friends," so ya know, fuck the Russkies. (yeah, yeah - take this shit to the Food & Travel board -->) 😆
  16. I for one look forward to the matchup between Upper Volta and Zaire, followed by a scintillating tilt between Burma and Persia. (yes, I realize some of those countries may not qualify, but we still might get to see the Austro-Hungarian Empire face off against the Orange Free State....)
  17. Força Portugal! 🇵🇹
  18. lol I'm aware, and you're not wrong - I've literally driven every single mile of state highway in WA and have been to the vast majority of both ID and OR. It's just that in WA the squidbillies are substantially outnumbered, unlike in (checks notes) most other states. We do call it "Spoklahoma" for a reason, though 😂
  19. Nah, the PNW isn't part of the Confederacy of Loons (i.e. almost everywhere else). We leave the big guy alone. He rarely devours hikers and won't be arsed to chase down cyclists.
  20. Ukrainian recon aircraft filming during/after the attacks over any one of those bases, thousands of km distant? Sort of begs the question: "What air defense doing?"
  21. Did he walk into a wall or something?
  22. Considering the US' first round games are in LA and Seattle, they'll be lucky if all they get is booed.
  23. I just assumed he was looking for Russian armor to confiscate, in the time-honored tradition.
  24. Portuguese elections are also tomorrow, although unlike in Romania and possibly Poland, there is no chance that the far right Chega (Enough) party will take power. This is a reprise of last year's election where the center-right coalition led by the PSD - Partido Social Democrata - is likely to retain power, perhaps with a gain of a seat or two at the expense of the center-left PS (Partido Socialista)* . This will likely result, again, in a minority government as the PSD will not go into coalition with Chega, who is expected to garner about 20% of the vote. Until recently, Portugal has resisted the authoritarian movements seen here and in much of Europe, but Chega has grown in strength and now can keep either major party from an outright majority, forcing minority coalition governments that are inherently less stable than what the country has seen in the 50 years since the fall of the clerico-fascist Salazar dictatorship. Even more alarming is the fact that amongst young voters, Chega leads. This trend is certainly not seen only in the US; it's becoming rampant in Europe as well. * - Despite the names, the PSD (Social Democrats) is center-right and the Socialists are center-left, and between the two have run the country since the Estado Novo dictatorship fell. The PSD is the only European party to still use the anti-fascist 3 Arrows symbol common among social democrats in the 1920s and 30s, despite now not being a social democratic party.
  25. flatdawgs

    LBGTQ

    All the "adults" out there on the other side of this issue can't hold a candle to this high school freshman.
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