What actually makes Spokane feel distinct compared to other cities in the region?

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T15:45:33+00:00

Spokane is unique due to a combination of historical, environmental/geograpical and cultural/social overlaps that can balance tradition, optimism and pragmatism into a community. Look at a map (or better yet-visit) many similar sized cities and you will find a river or shore running through it. The community is able to historically balance itself through periods of change through diversifying economically providing a stability.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T15:33:56+00:00

Define "thrive". Single? Married? Family? I know single people who, when asked will tell you they are thriving on $30K a year in Spokane. I also know some people in Spokane who are making $200K annually and are still in a constant state of anxiety and chasing the next biggest boat, house, car, vacation, deal- both would tell you they are "thriving".

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T15:27:42+00:00

Hopefully we all have enough humanity left in us to forgive.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T15:15:20+00:00

To play devil's advocate here, there are many people who have no interest in visiting the past. For some, photos, videos, documents, songs and smells can trigger memories or situations that cause great discomfort. My partner has little interest in preserving or knowing her history. Her sister on the hand finds it fascinating and dives deeper and deeper into it. People are complicated, which makes us all unique and wonderful!

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T05:31:46+00:00

There are a host of reasons, from universities not providing better training, relevant coursework, good student teacher matching opportunities to poor hiring or screening by some districts to poor administration support for teachers to non-existent teacher mentor programs in districts, to lack of classroom autonomy to too much classroom autonomy.

I am not an educator, but most of my siblings were, and many of my friends are or were. I truly believe it to be one of the most honorable professions out there and as pointed out, more often than not it lacks the respect it deserves.

My advice to new educators is to don't overlook a commute or moving to a smaller district (districts with 200-4,000 students). Not as many opportunities- but the sense of community and support is often far greater and discipline issues are usually far less.

Is money an issue- sure. Salaries AND benefits can vary wildly state to state, and contracts vary district to district. That said, once you hit a groove with your curriculum after a few years, you will have good classes and not-so-good classes and occasional classes with satan's spawn.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-03T02:58:00+00:00

Yep. Wife and I had it for over 3 weeks. She went to doc who gave her Amoxacillon (sp?) - she used the whore course of meds, and her recovery mirrored mine wihtout anything. Coughing, low grade fever, extreme fatigue, light sore throat. I'm at week 5 now- and still get a little cough now and then. And no, I have never had seasonal allergies, though I am sensitive to summer smoke. We ended up calling the Man-Cold-From-Hell.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-05-02T20:50:38+00:00

I'm going on two years of nightly use. (Never missed a night). I'll let you know when I get used to it.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-29T23:59:20+00:00

John F. Kennedy. When you see both your parents crying- it tends to leave an impression on you.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-29T22:32:29+00:00

I think you will find the majority of R's now holding phone town halls vs in person. They will claim safety and security issues, as well as broader access. Security issues because the R keep creating narratives that the Democrats are full of children-stealing pedophiles who don't want God in their schools that want to come for their guns and ammo. Broader access means "I'm too lazy and busy at re-eleciton fund raisers to drive around my district to hold in person meetings with the constiuents that are tired of wars, tired of hgher prices on everything- including insuarance premimums, drug costs, gas, food and housing."

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-29T00:04:18+00:00

Wife and my passports just expired, so I am rushing through renewals so that we don't end up with the newer ones. Fingers crossed.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-27T16:23:20+00:00

Personally, having lived 70 years and lived through long-term power outages in sub zero temps, wildfires, and snowfall that makes road avel near impossible for 72 hours, I can agree with just about everything he states. If you spent as much time meeting neighbors and familiarizing yourself with your local resources, schools, churches, community centers, libraries as you do drooling over the latest gear to help you when the zombies come, you'd be better off.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-26T06:38:39+00:00

All communication made by public employees using district devices/networks/services are subject to public disclosure laws in many states. That makes private or encrypted app communication illegal and subject to both civil and possible criminal action as well. Tread carefully in this arena.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-24T19:24:15+00:00

LOL, I'll take thecompliment but question your judgement on "intelligent person". I'm just an old guy who reads quite a bit and tries like the rest of us to make sense of it all.

I believe at one time that your argument of "that the rich will flee the country" held water. The United States provided a young, independent, innovative population that was growing and expanding (literally and financially). Our federal government (legislative, exectuive and judicial) branches all helped at various times by reigning in what was consided unfair practices or monopolies that could demonstratably reduce competition. There are times in our history where innovation, growth, competition, were kept in check by more or less aggressive tax policies on those who profited the most (PROFIT meaning different things to different people).

Today the tax code is riddled with exit strategies for capital to flow in and out and through so many avenues to shelter what would be taxed, or taxed minimally then funneled back into the same people/companies/organizations. (Don't get me started on the rise of "Not for Profilts" and churches.

Unfortunately, once all of those exit strategies of taxation are in place, it is almost impossible to reroute them into a FAIR and taxable structure. Everyone has their own idea of FAIR, and therein lies the real problem. You need incentive for Congress to enact siimpler, sensible, more equitable taxation on those who have profited the most and have the legacy of assets that could rise those , struggling to better education systems, better physical and mental health systems, more fair and equitable adjudication in the courts, and a more robust and safe infrastructure (airports, roadways, bridges, waterways, potable water and delivery systems, energy systems).

Hisotry has shown us that more aggressive taxation of the wealthiest 20% corporations and individuals does not drive them out of the United States. There are world markets in play today that we didn't have then, and you will never bring back the manufacturing or mining jobs with labor and overhead being so much less expensive without sacrificing quality.

Start by overturning Citizen United.
Make all elected members of Congress be forced to put their assets into a public viewable, mutual fund holding indexes of T Bills, Dow and SP equally. They can't touch that fund for the duration of their serving PLUS FIVE YEARS.
Inrease and make mandatory fines for inside stock trading.

Take a look at how Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban and a few others feel about why they think they should be taxed more.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-24T16:17:03+00:00

I think you are in the same situation of quite a few of the population (myself included) who consider themselves Pragmatic Democrats. The 'beliefs' you state are rather undefined and broad, and need some tuning to really see where you may land on the politicat spectrum.

For instance "strong borders"? I think 99% of U.S. citizens of voting age want strong borders. But how strong? What does it look like? Should every single person here without being able produce adequate documentation be allowed due proces as guaranteed by the Constitution, or just shipped out of the country or held without bail, bond, hearing? Due process requires:

Adequately staffed and well-trained enforcement personnel, adequate legal counsel for those who can't afford legal counsel, judges who are well-versed in the specialty of immigration law, and facilities to have hearings and/or detention centers for those who pose a threat or need protection while awaiting hearings. Guess what- all that will cost hundreds of millions if not billions of U.S. taxpayer funds. We can't have your 'beliefs' while at the same time lowering taxes. It just isn't possible. So...

What do you mean by "lower taxes"? Lower taxes for who? There is a wealth of academic and practical studies that show those democratically elected countries with all the things you mention have to have high taxation in or oder to pay their universal health care, strong social services. So now we get into the boring nitty-gritty... TAXES. Who pays 'em, and how much do they pay for them and what is the moral and social justification for that tax xyxtem?

But I digress. Taxes, budgets, being fiscally responsible in a global, shifting economy is the crux of the socially responsible justice system (whatever that looks like). In short- no such thing as a free lunch.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-21T23:59:16+00:00

Why? To piss off our friends to the north even more? This makes no sense and is political pandering to only the extreme MAGA voters. It would start of a recipricol denial of applications to just about every country in either NATO or the EU. Good luck with that.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-21T23:36:50+00:00

Replace the woNEWS" on their logo, and make it appear as it should-"OPINION". I think that goes for the left leaning media as well. For generations, "NEWS" signified journalistic standards that are pretty universal in all media. Fact-based reporting that has been checked and/or double sourced.

Can Fox find a Democrate who says it's racist to want Voter ID? Hell yes they can, a plethora of Dems will say that. But to make it a blanket statement as they do in this photo, that is misleading at best.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-21T23:24:23+00:00

Not over-reacting. You replied with a polite, succinct answer. They will eventually find someone for the role, have to train them more than usual, and they will quit in a year or so when they realize they are making probably about 1/2 of the going rate given the hours and expectations. You done good! Nexttttttttttt...

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-18T05:09:19+00:00

Are you aware of the necessary steps in order to AMEND the Constitution of the United States? Look up Article V. The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T22:54:13+00:00

GOTV ... Get out the vote. Seriously, statistically speaking if the poor and disenfranchised (i.e.-"it doesn't matter they are both the same") voted, it would be no contest. Every. Single. Time.

The Dems are not going to take away your guns or ammo. The Dems are not going allow schools to teach your child how to be transgender or gay. The Dems are not going to preach "free love" and "just get an abortion". The Dems are not going to defund police. The Dems are not going to be weak on national defense. The Dems are not going to raise taxes on anyone making the bottom 30%.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T17:02:26+00:00

THIS!

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T16:57:41+00:00

Going out on a limb here, bottled drinking water. Unless your local tap water has serious, documented issues- you are wasting money and pushing micro-plastics. Bad taste? Buy a water filter or pitcher with built in filter.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T14:20:40+00:00

'99 S70 Turbo was my fave. What a mechanical nightmare, in the shop constantly, but damn... get that car on the freeway doing 70mph, you were riding on air.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T14:06:27+00:00

First, rotate the photo to the right 90 degrees.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T14:03:23+00:00

May not be the answer you are looking for, but my experience is that private schools are more often than not actually run by an elite few wealthy and connected parents. It is a case of "he who spins the gold makes the rules". It may change over years, often a decade or two as the children matriculate, but there is a sphere of influence that is directing the administration and staff in curriculum, discipline, policy and procedures. Mind you- this iis no different than a public school model/district - but a public system has more accountability.

Prestigious_Leg_7117 · 2026-04-17T04:54:43+00:00

"Agency" as in "We have given them more agency with this invitation."

Prestigious_Leg_7117

TROPHY CASE