Random Posting

[Schmidt Meister]

On June 12, 1987, in one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the repressive Communist era in a divided Germany.

In 1945, following Germany’s defeat in World War II, the nation’s capital, Berlin, was divided into four sections, with the Americans, British and French controlling the western region and the Soviets gaining power in the eastern region. In May 1949, the three western sections came together as the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) being established in October of that same year. In 1952, the border between the two countries was closed and by the following year East Germans were prosecuted if they left their country without permission. In August 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected by the East German government to prevent its citizens from escaping to the West. Between 1949 and the wall’s inception, it’s estimated that over 2.5 million East Germans fled to the West in search of a less repressive life.

With the wall as a backdrop, President Reagan declared to a West Berlin crowd in 1987, “There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.” He then called upon his Soviet counterpart: “Secretary General Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Reagan then went on to ask Gorbachev to undertake serious arms reduction talks with the United States.

Most listeners at the time viewed Reagan’s speech as a dramatic appeal to Gorbachev to renew negotiations on nuclear arms reductions. It was also a reminder that despite the Soviet leader’s public statements about a new relationship with the West, the U.S. wanted to see action taken to lessen Cold War tensions. Happily for Berliners, though, the speech also foreshadowed events to come: Two years later, on November 9, 1989, joyful East and West Germans did break down the infamous barrier between East and West Berlin. Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990.

Gorbachev, who had been in office since 1985, stepped down from his post as Soviet leader in 1991. Reagan, who served two terms as president, from 1981 to 1989, died on June 5, 2004, at age 93.

[Schmidt Meister]

HEADS UP ~ FYI

Israel has reported a high number of heart inflammation cases for young men after receiving the COVID vaccine and Germany has advised young people NOT to get the vaccine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/tucker-carlson-young-people-are-being-forced-to-get-covid-vaccine-but-it-may-harm-them-more-than-covid/ar-AAKVsrH?ocid=uxbndlbing

In January, Israel became one of the first countries in the world to give the new coronavirus vaccine to young people. At the time, Israel's Education Ministry said the vaccine was necessary so that students could sit for in-person exams. Schools mandated the shot; kids got it. 

So what happened next? This week, we found out. Israeli health officials released a report showing that vaccinated young people, particularly young men, were developing a potentially fatal complication, a heart inflammation called myocarditis, and they were developing it at extremely high rates. Researchers determined that the incidence of myocarditis in vaccinated young men was fully 25 times the usual rate. Some of them died.  

In Canada, at least one public health official observed the same thing. Dr. Peter Liu is the chief scientific officer at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and an expert in myocarditis. Liu began to notice heart inflammation in patients who’d received the vaccine. "It is more than coincidental," he said.  

In Germany, authorities concluded the same thing. The German government just announced that healthy young people should avoid the vaccine. It’s too dangerous.

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[Swampfox762]

[ChuteTheMall]

2 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

On June 12, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Filipino rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo proclaim the independence of the Philippines after 300 years of Spanish rule. By mid-August, Filipino rebels and U.S. troops had ousted the Spanish, but Aguinaldo’s hopes for independence were dashed when the United States formally annexed the Philippines as part of its peace treaty with Spain.....

Blackjack Pershing and Leonard Wood wonder why the Moros weren't mentioned.....

Edited June 12, 2021 by ChuteTheMall

[Schmidt Meister]

8 minutes ago, ChuteTheMall said:

Blackjack Pershing and Leonard Wood wonder why the Moros weren't mentioned.

If I were to try and include ALL of history, I would be banned and I am the only member of my research team. Apologies to Blackjack Pershing, Leonard Wood and the Moros.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Schmidt Meister

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:59 AM, pipedreams said:

The Calf-Path

One day through the primeval wood
A calf walked home as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell-wether sheep
Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bell-wethers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade,
Through those old woods a path was made,
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed—do not laugh—
The first migrations of that calf,
And through this winding wood-way stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.
This forest path became a lane,
That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet.
The road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware,
A city's crowded thoroughfare,
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.
Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed this zigzag calf about,
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way,
And lost one hundred years a day,
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.
A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.
They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives they move;
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf.
Ah, many things this tale might teach—
But I am not ordained to preach.

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Schmidt Meister]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:28 AM, pipedreams said:

When I was stationed (TDS) in the Sinai Peninsula, there was a Navy Chief who had opted for an occupational change that, fortunately for him, was also advantageous to the military powers that be, and he joined the Army. He was easy going and I talked to him frequently in the chow hall.

It blew my mind how filthy/stained the coffee cup he used was. It was unsanitary, the condition of that mug. He would threaten to kill anyone that washed it. When I asked about it, he told me that it was something he picked up as a sailor. He worked closely with another Chief who seriously considered it bad juju to wash his coffee mug. He’d taken to doing this with his black coffee for so long, in fact, that he’d simply grown to enjoy the taste of the weeks, months, or years old residue. It was what my grandmother called her cast iron pots … ‘seasoned.’

“It adds a lot of flavor,” he said. I used to note that sailors probably like their coffee like they like their reputation: Cold, black and crusty. He enjoyed the comparison.

I don’t have a picture of his cup but this is the exact wording as his cup. His cup also had the usual ship info that he served on as is customary for sailors. I think I may have posted this picture before, sorry

[Swampfox762]

I've been to Both.  Rock City and Ruby Falls

Anyone know how "Ruby Falls" got it's name??  Anyone else seen it?

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]

[Swampfox762]