Posted on 04/25/2017 9:19:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I’ve noticed.
Ha ha—probably a wise decision!
You’ve written some good thoughts, Jay. I will seriously ponder them.
Ooooo, PC Police!
“dripping hatred”! “Princess”!
Such “micro-aggressions”! LOL.
I travelled in East Berlin in 1986, when no one thought the Wall would ever come down. It was depressing beyond belief. People looked depleted and walked like they had given up on life — no spring in their step. Their eyes were dead.
People drove hideous automobiles called Trabants that had no get up and go and crawled down the street so slow they could just as well have been powered by lawn mower engines. Besides being tiny and ugly, they belched smoke like a power plant and stank.
Police were everywhere and where keeping their eyes on everything. It was nerve racking to constantly see such a heavy police presence.
Every buildilng was drab and dirty inside and out — with the neglect of decades weighing on every wall and floor and ceiling and window.
People dressed drably. Everyone was afraid to speak their minds. People were paranoid and seemed to think someone was following them everywhere they went.
People spent as little time as possible on the street, always rushing to get inside somewhere.
After I left and thought about what I had witnessed, I was horrified that civilized human beings could treat one another so harshly. I had been to Hungary just before this, and it was nowhere near as depressing as East Berlin.
I went back to East Berlin in 1995, years after the wall came down, and the place was lively and people were smiling. There were ocassional early signs of progress.
For example, I took walks down some of the grand streets with the grand old apartment buildings that were about eight or ten stories high and which housed massive luxury apartments in the old days.
Before the wall came down, every building, even on a formerly grand street, was drab and run down and visibily in need of repairs.
In 1995, however you would see one, maybe two beautifully restored to their pristine condition on each side of the street, complete with all the gold embellishments from a bygone era of wealth.
And by the way, you only saw a policeman once in a while. People strolled casually along the streets.
It was an inspiration to see the beginnings of a recovery and signs of freedom.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and describing them so vividly. Don’t you wish the avowed Communists in this country (and other countries as well) could see this and realize Communism doesn’t work!
“Hitler, seeing the adoring crowd of bloody soldiers assemble on the other side of the glass. . . . . . . promptly ordered the shades pulled down. “
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An egomaniacal maniac-——who hypnotized a nation. VERY frightening.
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“It was an inspiration to see the beginnings of a recovery and signs of freedom.”
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A nice story——you were very lucky to have seen the “before and after” of the city.
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I don't really know what motivated Merkel's invitation. It could just as well have been an effort to use Ivanka to shore up her relationship with the President. But I don't know.
What was foolish was to be so unprepared to share the international stage with powerful women. Ivanka had no real answers to the questions, no concrete insights ..just generalities and some stuff about being new to the position and there to learn.
Hatred is of a stretch. But, she is her father's princess ... always has been. No one would care if she weren't being given a position she is ill-prepared to have.
I don't understand why we're expected to worship her, the "job" she's been given and her liberal worldview.
.”99 Luftballoons” was pretty much meant as a slam on Reagan...
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You’re right! I’d forgotten about that song.
‘The German’s both loved and hated the Americans, but that was almost 60 years ago and having been back several times, I think, for the most part, they blame their problems on us. ‘
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First, thank you for your service.
And as to your comment; perhaps there is a part of their subconscious collective soul, so to speak, that misses the power they had under Hitler and and despise the people that vanquished him.
Perhaps, as time has passed, the people have forgotten the atrocities Hitler committed. Who knows?
It does sound like the military accommodations were quite comfortable over there at the time.
Thank you for the history; it was quite interesting!
Sometimes I think a group of Freepers should collect posts like yours and put them in books, under various subjects, i.e., military history, September 11, elections, etc. The combined knowledge here is amazing.
Julie
I’m sorry- but Melania should be there not Ivanka. She is not the first lady but is really taking on the role. I doubt that Melania will do many speeches around the world even when she gets to the WH.
Ivanka has worked since age 14, first a an international model, after graduating from Wharton she worked in real estate and later joined Trump Enterprises advancing on merit to executive VP of acquisitions.
Ivanka started her own successful business, is raising 4 children, and converted to Judaism, which is no picnic and not entered into lightly. Biography
Snarking at her as a princess is nothing more than sour grapes, she has earned her place as a very successful business woman.
Merkel is destroying Germany and helping to destroy the economies of many countries. She is a fascist ideologue as are the elite you claim Ivanka is not qualified to sit amongst. An American entrepreneur who is gracious enough to suggest that those folks have anything to teach us other than what to avoid is being politic in the extreme.
Oh, good grief. If you've never heard the expression used in this way, you need to get out more .. and soon.
Who gives a damn what the Germans think? Their elite never gave up their fascist dreams, IMO.
As for the rank and file, there seems to be no independent thought, much like the times of Hitler.
All Trump did was speak about a bawdy hypothetical.
Merkel ensured that there would be much unwanted grabbing and sexual sexual abuse of women.
Big difference
When I think of Ivanka, I think of Galadriel.
“All shall love me and despair!”
Well, thanks. Now I will, too. LOL!
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