No nationalistic flamebait here please.

No regional flamebait either for that matter.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Is that statement just based on your general feeling or data? Because the data does not show that Western Europe is doing better in Covid deaths per capita than the US.

Top 10 countries in covid deaths per capita (as of today)... US is #8 and 5 of the top 7 are in Western Europe.

1. Belgium

2. UK

3. Peru

4. Spain

5. Italy

6. Sweden

7. Chile

8. USA

9. Brazil

10. France

Of course the pandemic isn't close to over, so this data will continue to change.

In addition, besides measurement differences, many other non-policy factors impact this scorecard. For example, age distribution of a country, population density, luck of when an outbreak started... impact a countries Covid deaths per capita... so I personally wouldn't start tallying a scorecard yet.

[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deat...

Fair point, but counter argument would be that US, Brazil, India, Russia and Mexico are poised to see many more deaths, while countries like Italy had an initial huge wave of deaths, but are now doing much better and do not expect significant deaths in the future.

Leaving this here for both of you.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/8993658...

I'd love to move to Norway or Iceland.

Iceland is known for its horizontal rain (i.e. rainfall combined with 50+mph wind). Add long days in the summer and long days in the winter. Add no trees at all. It's a somewhat extreme place.

When I dropped into street view of an Icelandic suburb I was surprised how many trees I saw. Maybe it's an issue of topsoil rather than climate?

Yes, from I've read it's definitely the issue of soil. The island was completely deforested a long time ago and the unprotected soil has completely eroded since then (the same thing also happened in Scotland and Sicily ?). There are some recent initiatives to reforest Iceland, but it will understandably take many decades to repair the damage.

I definitely have looked into Norway, though it is one of the most expensive places to live.

As someone who went to the CHOP multiple times through out the protests, I don’t agree with your characterization. My personal experience was not that of yours. It _was_ uncomfortable, but nobody makes change by staying in their comfort zone.

As for the miles of filth and needles. I’ve seen too. I’ve seen it in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, the list goes on. When you have folks being displaced as rents and property prices increase, so goes the middle and lower income folks. Small cities naturally don’t have challenges at the same scale as large cities.

Complaining does not help-What are the solutions to these problems? I don’t know, but I am all ears.

There is more to Washington than downtown Seattle.

So... your answer is to ignore a sincere question. Here's another. Have you considered what if it were you putting your life savings into a business in downtown Seattle or Minneapolis or Chicago, then finding out you're not insured for civil unrest?

The post you responded to said they'd consider moving to "WA. No state tax. Nice nature.". You then pointed out problems in downtown Seattle. I'm not here from the Committee to Get Everyone To Open A Business In Seattle, Minneapolis Or Chicago. I'm a part-time member of the Committee To Not Generalize About A Whole State Based On Stuff That Happens In A Few Square Blocks In One City.

Yeah, the suburbs of Chicago and most of the rest of the state of Illinois have pretty much been calm. Almost entirely peaceful protests, with the exception of a couple of suburbs for a few nights at the height of the national unrest, but nowhere near the same level as Chicago proper.

You can still move to the suburbs here and get a reasonable house at a fraction of the cost of Silicon Valley (Well, in most of them. If you want a super pricy home, there are a few suburbs for you here too also), and it's about as safe as anywhere else.

But the state is broke and the tax burden is still one of the highest in the nation, so we still have more people leaving than coming in as a whole.

Sounds on par for people who believe they're due reparations from China for being #first in Covid-19.

This coming from a Trump voter in the 206.

We don't condone anarchists who are the .001% of the 99.998 of the normal people in the PNW. Just like we don't condone 1% of the population holding control to 99% of the world's wealth as it doesn't benefit the economy and society.

You will have people with ulterior motives in any population no matter how you slice it. But one should be honest about how they group populations together.

Not all rednecks are dumb. Some build rockets and space vehicles. Get my point?

Thank you for giving a balanced right-wing view without going full nutcase somewhere in the middle. I've always known it is possible but it's sometimes hard to keep that in mind just reading discussions online (let alone discussions IRL... Those are always a disaster).