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flatdawgs

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About flatdawgs

  • Birthday April 28

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  1. You're not incorrect re France's earlier colonies, particularly in North America (and on the frontier, the British were more relaxed about it as well, both often using intermarriage as means to effect trading relationships). The French in Indochina tended also to be somewhat more tolerant. However, the French Caribbean colonies were quite harsh on the matter, as was French Africa (even more so after the first world war). There is a fairly obvious reason as to why the difference. Metropolitan France, on the other hand, was much more open to those actually in France; this dated back to the Revolution.
  2. Brasil. Enough said. (The French and British generally took a much dimmer view of such practices in their colonies than the Portuguese and Spanish did, hence the, um, fairly attractive populations of several of our neighbors to the south.)
  3. A while, you say? Nice humblebrag.
  4. Really enjoyed my time in Mindelo just before Covid. Cool people, good food, extraordinary musical culture. Força as tubarões azuis!
  5. Way to dox yourself.... 😉
  6. The Portuguese had already reached and rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean by then. I'm pretty sure Henry the Navigator kicked off the golden age of exploration, staring out at the vast ocean from Sagres. Cabral reached Brazil in 1500; it would be hard for me to believe that the only reason he did so was due to Columbus' voyage a few years before. Hell, da Gama completed his India voyage in 1498; regardless of Columbus, Portugal would have kept exploring - they had been for a half-century prior, quite lucratively - and due to that almost assuredly the Spanish (and likely the English) crown would have been obliged to do the same.
  7. I actually hope so, since it means I'll probably get to see one of their matches. Spent some time in Mindelo just before Covid and loved the place, so have been rooting for the tubarões azuis (Blue Sharks) to make it. Força Cabo Verde!
  8. Same as it ever was. When I was in Zambia, a decade or so ago now, some Chinese mining company managers were killed near Kitwe in the Copper Belt (I was in the South Luangwa, so not nearby). When I asked some Zambian friends about the incident, they said "we know colonialism when we see it." The Chinese were (are?) brutal and I'm sure they are not alone in that.
  9. In every other functioning democracy in the world, the government would have fallen.
  10. My avatar is not confirmed as caretaker president. Seriously, at one point Rajoelina was considered as a young leader who could clean up the country's endemic corruption and myriad other problems. Only about a third of the population has access to electricity. The country has mineral and O&G resources, particularly in the south, but as in many other places these are exploited by Western multinationals and the Chinese, and any returns are skimmed off the top. It is sad as it is a beautiful place with the kindest people.
  11. Albert Speer laughs - laughs - at that puny piece of shit arch. Do better.
  12. One of the reasons Japan and West Germany (and the rest of occupied Western Europe) became staunch allies after WWII - and stepped back from their generational resentments - was that the USA poured billions of dollars over quite a few years into rebuilding them and reintegrating their economies into the Western economic structure. Has anyone heard of any honest plans for that in Gaza, Trump Gaza Beach Resorts aside? Because if it doesn't happen, ain't nothing ever gonna change there. "Hey, we're not shooting at you any longer, enjoy the rubble!" It needs to be the West as well to build any sort of trust; middle eastern petrodollars are fine but if we want them to think there might be a better future, there needs to be hope that they can join that better future. (and oh yeah, the West Bank is still a thing)
  13. Do you or have you lived there? I'm not romanticizing it; I have residency and live there several months a year most years. And, yes, I feel the failings of unfettered capitalism are a large part of the problem; I'm much more a proponent of controlled capitalism that at least pays lip service to the greater good (see Norway for how this is done with their natural resources). Possibly this is due to where I was born and raised, which is much more that way than most other parts of this country; part of that is knowing that even a state like mine has the #2 economy (GDP per capita) in the nation while a more "free capitalist" state like Texas is 16th. I've done well enough for myself in a not terribly lucrative profession; I'm not opposed to making money but I am opposed to hoarding it at a cost to society. It seems to me that like most Reagan Republicans - of which I was never one - you don't seem to have actually lived there either. (One reason I read this board is to get opinions different than mine, so I appreciate your viewpoints!) I will say that in nearly every European country the public health care system is a base that's available to all; many/most also choose supplemental private care. In Portugal, which has decent government healthcare, the top end private cover is about 1/10th the cost it is here. (oh, and whatever NVidia did or didn't do compared to Europe is wholly irrelevant to my quality of life both there and here. In my own profession - architecture and building science - Europe is decades ahead of the USA in product and materials development.)
  14. That's certainly an American way to look at things. OTOH, one of the things I thoroughly enjoy every time I'm back in Europe is that isn't the be-all and end-all of life; quite the contrary. In all the time I've spent in Europe (almost every country; southeastern Portugal now my base when I'm over there), I have never once had a single person ask me how much I made or what giant corporations my US city is home to. I spent a good portion of last winter in Scandinavia and I think most people would consider their quality of life higher than that of the vast majority of the US. While you're not incorrect about political turmoil in some of the larger European countries, they are still facing what would be considered fairly normal political stresses. It's countries like Hungary and Türkiye, with some of the former Eastern Bloc nations thrown in, where you find similar issues to here. Not saying it's not necessarily coming, but at least for now in several countries the center-right and center-left parties refuse to form coalitions with the far right.
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