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flatdawgs

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by flatdawgs

  1. 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.)
  2. 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.
  3. Ah, but I speak enough Portuguese to have fun with the Brazilian fans, and am enjoying drinking with them. The match was actually entertaining.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Well, all that and the food will be 1000x better.
  10. 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 -->) 😆
  11. 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....)
  12. Força Portugal! 🇵🇹
  13. 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 😂
  14. 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.
  15. 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?"
  16. Did he walk into a wall or something?
  17. Considering the US' first round games are in LA and Seattle, they'll be lucky if all they get is booed.
  18. I just assumed he was looking for Russian armor to confiscate, in the time-honored tradition.
  19. 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.
  20. flatdawgs

    LBGTQ

    All the "adults" out there on the other side of this issue can't hold a candle to this high school freshman.
  21. This is what I love about Surly... an old comment, question asked and answered three years later within an hour (and the pancakes sound great). OTOH, though I didn't know him personally, reading through this thread made me miss Lobo (and Anthony Bourdain). Plus we don't have Waffle House here and now I miss the one down the street from where I used to live in South Carolina, fondly and somewhat accurately called the Awful House.
  22. Returned home from sane Portugal* yesterday, and catching up with F1 from this past weekend saw a freaking ad with noted harridan and puppy killer Kristi Noem extolling ICE raids and the deportation of "100,000 criminals and terrorists" (sic) making us safer again under the enlightened leadership of Dear Leader. Dafuq? This looked like a fucking campaign ad but was directly from DHS. Our tax dollars hard at work, right, Elon? Fucking hell. If it wasn't Seattle I was returning to I'd have stayed in Tavira. *elections upcoming on the 18th; Chega - think MAGA, Reform UK, AfD - has banners up everywhere so we'll see
  23. I'm very familiar with this process and have a Portuguese immigration attorney (and am actually in Portugal at the moment). First, residency indeed does not equal citizenship; you must be resident in Portugal, under the residency terms of the visa, for five years before either applying for permanent residency or for citizenship. Obtaining citizenship requires passing a proficiency exam in the Portuguese language. The benefit of the Golden Visa is that you are only required to be in country 7 days a year. If you can be in the country long enough to be a "tax resident" (183 days, I believe) then a visa like the digital nomad or passive income visas are far cheaper and faster to obtain. Second, Golden Visa investment requirements used to vary based on where the investment is made or to be used. Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, amongst other high-demand locales, required the maximum €500k whilst more rural areas allowed investments as low as €330k (IIRC; actually lower than that for some qualifying real estate investments for properties of a certain age). Now, real estate investments are basically out, including funds - as is the direct capital transfer option. You can still invest €500k in other types of funds or scientific research, or create a business employing 10 full-time people for a minimum of 5 years. The cheapest option is a donation of €250k into an approved arts program - but this is a donation, not an investment. I think only a handful of people have gone this route. If you're actually planning to move to Portugal, the Golden Visa probably wouldn't have been the best route anyway - it's really best for those who want to start the process but can't yet relocate. Boa sorte na sua busca!
  24. Well, I've been to Oklahoma, but I sure as hell wasn't born there
  25. Well, it's not West Virginia.
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