Blergh

I am NOT (and have never been) ashamed to be from the U.S. I am ashamed that there are OTHERS from our nation that are putting us in a bad light re the rest of the world. I'm from the US Southeast so I've had to deal with the issues of others from my neck of the woods making us look bigoted, hateful, willfully ignorant,etc. my entire life and I will admit to being somewhat taken aback at how much progress re others becoming fair minded, compassionate,etc. has been at least paused. I refuse to believe that the changes for the worse can't be reversed but it will take a LOT of time, effort and being willing to put up with a great deal of flak. I somewhat relate to Enoch on the classic Krofft show Land of the Lost (1974-1976) who was a Sleestak from an earlier, more enlightened time when the Sleestaks had been progressive and civilized that got sent to a later 'contemporary' time in which their descendants had devolved in being hateful, destructive and xenophobic against others (especially humans). Despite this, Enoch sought out and and did all he could to help the human Marshalls (despite the Marshalls own initial fear of him- solely due to him having been a member of this species that had considered the Marshalls their sworn enemies). Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that as long as we individually remain polite, kind, helpful and fairminded to others, there is a chance not only to get those outside our ballparks to give us a chance to be evaluated as individuals rather than just lumped into a group in which the worst examples have the loudest voices but also to make inroads to help turn the tide with future generations via faith, education,etc.

Not an invalid point. However, the Russian and German antipathy towards each other has been going on since at least the 1100's AD- long before either nation would become united (and the city fortress of Koningsburg had been considered an outpost of German strength on the Baltic shores so it's not surprising that the Soviets not only invaded it at the tail end of WWII [and treated the civilians horrifically] but also ensured that the renamed Kalingrad would ALWAYS stay part of Soviet then Russian land via proclaiming it territory of the then-Soviet Republic of Russia which meant that it would legally stay Russia even after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

You're not the only one to wonder this. The Russians were somewhat uneasy with Germany's full pre-WWI dimensions to the extent that in the last days of WWII, when the Soviets invaded then occupied the Baltic countries, Poland and the eastern part of Germany, they outrightly conquered the easternmost corner of the former Imperial Germany's domain East Prussia and made it an official part of the Soviet Union under direct control of the Russian state (changing the name of its capital city and main port from Koningsburg to Kalinagrad). Anyway, after the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 when the new Russian Republic grudgingly accepted Poland and the Baltic States' independence , they KEPT that fragment of the onetime German Empire and to this day the Kalingrad Oblast, a little piece of Russia with its regional capital of Kalingrad sits wedged between the northern part of Poland and the western part of Lithuania (both NATO nations) but totally cut off from the rest of Russia.However, this tiny territory's capital IS Russia's only port on the Baltic that remains ice-free year round so there's a bit of pragmatism in holding onto it.

FWIW, Miss Faithful was raised by both her parents in postwar England which can't have been entirely easy for Mrs. Faithfull especially due to at least some tension if not open hostility towards her due to 'the neighbors' considering her to be a foreigner hailing from an enemy land so soon after the War (regardless of her having been anti-NAZI). Moreover, she and her mother were both collateral descendants of this author and made no secret of it.

That reminds me of something that happened c. 2002 when someone sent me a staged photo of the proposed rebuilt WTC that had a large sign of gigantic letters on permanent display screaming '[BLANK] YOU, BIN LADEN!'. ..and I replied that I didn't believe that small children needed to see that profanity on display. Well, this individual actually accused me of being pro-terrorist and anti-US American for not hoping the future WTC tower would have had that on display for real and my attempts to explain that I had had close relatives who witnessed that atrocity just blocks away, have had a long line of family members who had become soldiers to defend the US (and that I just believe that its best to try to avoid profanity usage around children out of respect for them) fell on deaf ears. Looking back, it's just as well that they ghosted me.

BTW, it needs to be said that the late Miss Faithfull's mother Eva von Sacher-Masoch Faithful had been from an ancient Austrian-Hungarian noble family who became anti-NAZIs in Vienna where Eva would meet Miss Faithfull's future English father Major Glynn Faithfull a British Intelligence officer who met and married her then brought her out of war torn Austria for them to start a new life in . .. war torn Britain where Miss Faithfull would be born in 1946. .and if Mrs. Faithfull's original family name rings a bell, it needs to be said that Eva was the great-great-niece of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch whose writings would eventually spur the term 'masochism'.

Why does one have to spell out that one abhors criminals (regardless of the criminals' backgrounds, nationalities or ethnicities) but believes there are innocent folks who don't deserve to be punished- much less having entire ethnicities demonized?

Yes, but the Bavarian Royal family were not Hapsburgs per se but of the House of Wittelbach. However, there HAD been intermarriage between them and the Hapburgs even before Sisi's union with Franz-Josef. In fact, Franz-Josef's own mother the Archduchess Sophie had been Sisi's maternal aunt whose own parents were cousins. Despite (or perhaps because) of these family ties, Sophie disdained and berated Sisi from the start (which was one of the main contributing factors to Sisi's union with Franz-Josef being strained from Day One and doomed to them being separated for many years before her assassination despite Franz-Josef never losing his adoration for her). Of course, it also needs to be said that Archduchess Sophie's own husband the Archduke Franz Karl was rather blah and unambitious to the degree that after his own brother the Emperor Ferdinand's death's he allowed Sophie talk him into to passing on the Imperial throne to their son Franz-Josef so he could rule from age 18 (with Sophie 'advising' him).

I suppose it's just as well that #45 is golfing near the Atlantic shore rather than golfing on the Gulf of. . that body of water whose shoreline is in Mexico from Matamoros all the way to the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. @PRgal FWIW, I'm not angry at your reporting this but I'm angry that this has happened so I hope everyone enjoys their guacamole, chocolate and maple syrup at hand. .

While the 'Mad King' Ludwig of Bavaria (1845- drowned 1886)and his cousin Elisabeth 'Sisi', the Empress Consort of Austria-Hungary(1837- ass. 1898) have been noted for their . ..eccentricities (with Sisi going so far as requesting from her infatuated spouse the Emperor Franz-Josef to choose either a tiger cub, a locket. ..or a 'full equipped lunatic asylum' to gift her for her saint's day. .then was disappointed when her more pragmatic spouse gave her the locket), these weren't the only . ..offbeat royals from Bavaria. Their aunt Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (1826-1875) was a prolific writer and did many great charitable works. However, there were some signs that she,too,. ..marched to her own drummer. One is that for many years she would only wear an all-white wardrobe but even more shockingly was the fact the from her early 20's onward for reasons unclear then or now, she convinced herself that she had somehow swallowed an entire grand piano made of glass a a child- and nothing anyone else could say or do would shake of this unsettling and preposterous belief! BTW, going back to her niece Sisi, it also needs to be kept in mind that back then 'lunatic asylums' didn't consider their residents to be residents or even patients but during the 19th century, they were termed as 'inmates'. .and straight jackets were one of the tamer forms of . ..restraint found within 'fully equipped' institutions that most modern historians consider to have been somewhat sadistic and torturous to patients with claimed mental health issues.

Speaking of serial killers, interestingly enough there has been recent scholarship on the infamous Whitebridge Homicides of 1888-1889 (in London) which has actually called to doubt the veracity of the letter written to the newspaper editor gloating about the horrific murders in which the writer would tag himself as 'Jack the Ripper'. Most notably in a recent documentary by Dr. Lucy Worsely in which she and at least one other scholar presented evidence that the letter itself may have been a hoax written by one of the editor's employees to skyrocket that newspaper's sales!

Of course, to be fair, AA herself admitted that she had never heard of much less read any of Mrs. Wilder's tomes before she started performing the character of Nellie. Now, of course, Miss Arngrim has become a very diligent scholar not just of her character's three RL models but of the works themselves and of how very different Mrs. Wilder conveyed her family's story to what the historic record has clarified! If nothing else, it was good that the original show got Miss Arngrim and others to read the books and become scholars of this literature AND historians of this timeframe. .and perhaps this new series could do the same!

Happy Black History Month- because history is something vital to know so folks can be inspired by triumphing over odds and lessons can be learned on things not worth repeating-regardless of whether they share the ethnicity or shape of the protagonists or the culpable. FWIW, I'm a lifelong lover of history from virtually all corners of the world and always will be- and NOT of bowlderized propaganda (and I recognize that there are folks from my ancestries who didn't always do the right things but that doesn't mean I have to fake otherwize). BTW, I don't get those folks who get upset at being called racist yet openly tar entire ethnicities and belittle those who evaluate others via their individual actions and characters rather than ethnic backgrounds.

While I disagree re considering the late Mr. Springer's mindset to have been sincere or positive, I won't belabor that. However, I agree that Miss Jones and Miss Raphael were even more unwatchacle with Miss Jones initially saying she was 'responsible' for a guest's murder after she brought a loose cannon kook,etc. only to evidently backtrack later to save herself from having to pay out monies to bereaved family members. Miss Raphael was openly a bully who, (among other things) rather than consider that troubled teens might possibly have had reasons for having acted out that might have placed at least some of the blame on those who raised them, just screamed at said teens while belittling their attempts to explain their POVs, then had them sent to boot camps to the cheers of her audience drones! IMO, she was egomaniacal with all the sincerity of a fly-by-night used coffin salesperson and despicable. As for Miss Lake, I found her annoying and not worth watching but IMO not as duplicitous as Miss Jones nor openly detestable as Miss Raphael. However, none of these three (as far as I know) had producers seek out guests for them to sleep afterwards.

[No spoilers please] but was it just me or were they trying to build up Tris as though he'd almost become SuperTristan via his war experiences in Egypt? I mean, apart from being cashless at the Drovers, he somehow managed to make zero missteps and even seemed to pull open Mr. Biggin's gate with ease while poor Siegfried got stuck in it! Nice sentiment expressed by Siegfried (which likely reflected Mrs. Herriott's own feelings) about being relieved that his work of having raised Tristan was done. ..but OTOH feeling sad that his onetime dependent no longer needed him! Well, at least the story ended with Siegfried and Tristan having a spat- somehow I knew that Siegfried wouldn't be able to 'never have a cross word' with his younger bro forever even with Tristan coming back unscathed from war. .and perhaps extra fortified. Still, I have to agree [again, no spoilers please] that it seems probable that Tristan could be overcompensating re bravado to avoid having to deal with very real PTSD AKA 'shell shock'.

Glad you asked that! I agree that Lady Fraser did a well written work (both in detail AND documentation) on the still-intriguing only ruling female monarch of the-then independent Kingdom of Scotland. However, I agree that Lady Fraser did tend to overpraise the Queen of Scots when things went her way while easily downplaying or concocting excuses when she either blundered or things blew up in her face.

To each one's own. However, AFIAC, even if the late Mr. Springer wasn't as bad as others that doesn't mean he was good (and I don't believe that he fought the show's downward spiral very hard if at all- regardless of any claims and crocodile tears on his part). Moreover,even if one attempts to minimize the sordidness of the alleged transactions (and is willing to excuse his culpability re these evident actions here), there's still the issue of the effect of these alleged transactions destroying the objectivity and credibility of both the guests and, especially the host that can't be erased. Even though it quickly became a pure spectacle for the ratings instead of remotely close to anything benefiscent or educational.Period.

In other news, on a recent podcast, Patrick Labyorteaux told the tale of how a new mother had been a bad situation so she put up her newborn up for adoption, then later married a man with children and helped him raise those children. Anyway, the woman's new children would see LHTOP and would compared Andy Garvey's blue eyes to their new mother's eyes- 'teasing' her that he could have been her long-lost 'son'. Well, Mr. Labyorteaux added the final twist to the story by reminding viewers that he (and his younger brother Matthew) HAD been adopted by the Labyortauxses. Thus, even though they were happy with them and have never considered them to have been anything other than their parents, eventually he DID have curiosity over the fate of his own birth mother.. .and yes, he found out that she had died before he found her but also found out from her widower the tale of their children comparing ' Andy''s eyes to their new mother's . .. .with the mother herself quietly admitting to her husband that she herself believed that that was the case. Even though she wasn't fated to raise him, at least she knew he DID survive and wound up being well cared for and could SEE him on a semi-regular basis on this and other shows! To bring this full circle, I'm a bit surprised that ML never considered an episode of someone identifying the child they knew they weren't able to raise via a seeing photograph in photographer's window display then deciding whether or not to leave things be for said child.

I also hope everyone's stocked up on coffee for a while.. .

As per Men's Journal,etc. a former producer of the Jerry Springer Show has claimed that the host would also have them find attractive female guests for the host to cavort with after the show. Even if one has no issues with the technically single late Mr. Springer allegedly having had flings with those individuals he allegedly compensated, if these claims are true, this raises serious ethical issues about the integrity of the individual segments that the guests appeared in, as well the guests to say nothing of the so-called host himself. Let's just say that I always considered this show (and its copycat ilk) to have been a contributor the the debasement ,jading and coarsening of our society (regardless of the late Mr. Springer's pious 'final thoughts' at the end tag) - and, if the above claim is true, this would appear to add even more validity to that (and all the above doesn't even touch how he cruelly exploited the physically unconventional to the audiences' jeers).

I'm putting it in this sub-Forum because I've needed to vent this for a long time (and I know it's just a tiny drop in the deluge that made up the perfect storm). However: I always said that no good would come from glorifying, and lionizing the Palpatine and the Dark Side with cruelty, depravity and deception celebrated while all the Jedi and all the heroes along with the concepts of kindness, compassion, mercy and empathy got belittled, demeaned and reduced to punching bags by virtually every production, publication,etc. after Return of the Jedi. Add this to so many other entertainment productions that have celebrated evil (with zero comeuppances or triumphs by good) in the last few decades and then why should we should be surprised that so many have sided with it re their own lives. BTW, to keep this from being a total rant and bummer, I also would beseech anyone with access to first edition historical books, documents,videos,etc. to SECURE them as carefully as possible so we have the means to teach later generations even if those in charge would want to destroy them- and teach as many younger generations as possible the actual facts do they can make their own individual decisions based on what had actually happened to the best of documented knowledge- as opposed to lopsided propaganda!

From 1961 to 1989, the NATO Ally controlled sectors of Berlin were walled off from the Soviet controlled sector of Berlin(and the surrounding nation of East Germany) and was called West Berlin but was also technically part of the nation of West Germany while the Soviet controlled half of Berlin was called East Berlin but not only was technically part of East Germany but also its legal capital city! After the fall of the Wall (and the Soviet Union) East Germany and West Germany were united to become rejoined as Germany with its capital Berlin. ..while the West German capital city of Bonn somewhat went back to obscurity. However, there is one other city that's been divided between two nations- Nicosia. Ever since 1974, Cyprus has been divided between the Greek dominated Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (with British and UN controlled bases and buffer zones between the two main areas). While only the Republic of Turkey itself recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypus as an official nation, both consider the Turkish occupied northern part of Nicosia as the latter's capital while the southern part of Nicosia remains the capital city of the Republic of Cyprus. Until recent years not only were the two parts of the city completely walled off from each other but citizens from one part of the city couldn't visit the other part of the city without having to travel all the way to the Greek/Turkish mainland/s then fly BACK to the other side of Cyprus and make one's way to the opposite part of the city. Nowadays, while the border still is strictly enforced between the two parts, at least the capital city's citizens can venture to the other part of their own city- albeit with proper documentation.

I wouldn't count on that re performers of any age - much less bet on that always being the case even with Monopoly money!

There's SO many awful things that have been wrought since Monday's DC Debacle it's hard to know where to start. However, in an effort to attempt to laugh to keep from screaming I'd like to say that party loyalty or not, I don't get why anyone would have voted for RFK,Jr. to be in charge of the US's healthcare. I wouldn't trust him to efficiently pass out crayons and cookies at a doll hospital waiting room.

I wonder if anyone can beat Keith Thibodeaux's 'LOS' record? Billed as 'Richard Keith' he'd played Lucy and Ricky's drumming sensation son 'Little Ricky' from the time he was four. Now at age 74, Mr. Thibodeaux has been the last surviving regular cast member of I Love Lucy (and the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour)since Lucy herself got her reward in 1989- 35 years ago! Of course, it helped that he was a preschooler while the rest of the cast was zooming if not already past their 40's during the show!