Alphabetically: Australia, Bangladesh, Burundi, Canada, Central African Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Dominica, Finland, France, Germany, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Israel, Jamaica, Lithuania, Mali, Moldova, Mozambique, New Zealand, Northern Cyprus, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sao Tome and Principe, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Burt Likko
Pseudonymous Portlander. Pursuer of happiness. Bon vivant. Homebrewer. Atheist. Recovering Republican. Recovering Catholic. Recovering divorcé. Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Ordinary Times. Relapsed Lawyer, admitted to practice law (under his real name) in California and Oregon. There's a Twitter account at @burtlikko, but not used for posting on the general feed anymore. House Likko's Words: Scite Verum. Colite Iusticia. Vivere Con Gaudium.
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on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25Did you hear about New York University cancelling Dr. Joanne Liu's speech? Just happened earlier tod…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25It’s being widely reported that Facebook is taking down recent posts by historian Heather Cox Richar… on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25Worth noting that the Wisconsin Supreme Court went to the Democrat by 57%. on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25He alone among his colleagues has finally grown some back bone. I can’t wait for the speech to be pu…
on A Grudging Concession About Something Trump DidThanks for the suggestions, Dark Matter. 1. Less broad tariffs on China could be plausibly defensibl…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25Yahoo News, wow, that sounds official. Except that's just Telegraph repost, but I guess they sound o… on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25It's worth reminding people how absurdly random the death penalty is when you actually look at the c…
on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25Research shows Hamas dropped several thousand from their fatality counts: https://www.yahoo.com/news… on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25The Daily Beast reviews Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr, and Michael McKean playing in a new… on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25Trumpism but *SMART*? Is there a market for that?
April 1, 2025
The Greatest Strike in History
March 30, 2025
March 28, 2025
They’re Acting Queer in Cleveland
March 27, 2025
on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25
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on Trump’s Most Insidious Scheme (So Far) on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25 on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25 on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25 on A Grudging Concession About Something Trump Did on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25 on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25 on Trump’s Most Insidious Scheme (So Far) on Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25
They all play football/soccer.Report
Nations which did not exist in their current form in 5000 BC.Report
Distance of their capital cities from El Paso is less than the distance between the Earth and the moon?Report
Just a minor quibble. Northern Cyprus isn’t a recognized UN member-state.Report
Then let it be stricken from the question! (Thank you for the corrective quibble. Good to see you.)Report
You and your outrageous anti-Muslim bias!Report
On that note, neither is Palestine. It’s classified as a non-member observer state.Report
Eh? I could have sworn I saw Palestine in there. Was it edited out, or did I misread Pakistan?Report
You must have misread Pakistan. Palestine would not be on the list even if it enjoyed full UN membership.Report
Brandon cleverly elicits a hint.Report
Also vague guess: Has something to do with Rugby?Report
I think it has to be something sport related. The range of countries is too vast for anything real. You have hot and cold countries, warm and wet countries, new and old countries, big and small countries. No clear religious connection.
So, yea, something sports or something quirky, like more men than woman in the population.Report
Countries which have never contained my kitchen.Report
Here’s your Tuesday hint: if the nations were to be listed in chronological order rather than alphabetically, the list would be Sri Lanka (it was called Ceylon back then), India, Israel, Central African Republic, United Kingdom, Portugal, Dominica, Norway, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Bangladesh, France, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, Pakistan, Haiti, Guyana, New Zealand, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Finland, Mozambique, Ukraine, Germany, Jamaica, South Korea, Moldova, Iceland, Croatia, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Slovakia, Mali, Thailand, Denmark.Report
Sri Lanka (it was called Ceylon back then)
Countries named after Commodores songs (or was that purely serendipitous?)Report
I assume that the event that triggered eligibility for this list for Yugoslavia happened specifically in Slovenia between 1929 and 1991.Report
Ugh. I missed that Croatia was on the list. Either way, I’m pretty sure I have the answer:
Appointment or election of female prime ministers.Report
Helle, I think you got it.Report
This is the correct answer. My formulation of it was “a female head of government,” but it’s effectively the same thing since every one of the women in question was a Prime Minister (that’s full PM, not “acting” or “effective”) other than Angela Merkl, and my understanding of the German system of government is that the Chancellor is more like a Prime Minister than a U.S. President anyway. Turns out, most countries that have Presidents name them heads of state, rather than heads of government, so they do ceremonial things and exercise comparatively little power.
As for countries with both female heads of state and female heads of government, I suspect that would be the UK and the Commonwealth nations from the above list — Sri Lanka, Jamaica, India, Bangladesh, UK, Canada, Pakistan, Australia, Trinidad, and Rwanda, since each of them had a female PM at the same time Elizabeth II Windsor has sat as sovereign.Report
Something you need to be careful with on that score Burt is that not all Commonwealth countries have the Queen as their head of State. I’m pretty sure India doesn’t for one thing.Report