About that video from Arnold Schwarzenegger:

K&R

Link to tweet

Thank you.

So timely and so necessary.

I welcome his support. His biggest fault is his huge ego, but I think he’s a decent person, misguided often, but not incapable of growth and learning it seems. I will cut Arnold slack. I believe he has shown regret for many of his most egregious decision as Governor, including his betrayal on Marriage equality.

other parts of the man too. Just makes me that good but as a woman, I do not respect the man. I don't like him. I do not like how he talks about women, or to women.

He was, though, capable of learning from his mistakes. As governor, he was no worse than most of his Republican predecessors, and better than quite a few (it's a low standard when you consider people like Reagan and Deukmejian). And unlike a certain current inhabitant of the White House, he actually is a self-made person.

He gave a very moving, heart-felt message that should have come from one of our current elected GOP officials but likely never will. I disagree with a lot of Schwartzenegger's positions, but I think he means what he says in this speech.

be heard or is good to hear, imo.

I’ve never heard an honest account of what families felt after the defeat and shame associated with Nazi-ism.

occurred within my family w/German heritage. Grandparents on that side rarely mentioned their parents that entered through Ellis Island before the turn of the century nor why they came to this country as a child or yet unborn. Where or how they lived is a mystery and, past that, I've found nothing including gravesites. On the other side, little more than a few crickets and an unknown distant relative's genealogy search records. DH's oral family history was similarly silent about "coming to America."

My maternal grandparents came over here via NJ. My Father, who I no longer communicate with for reasons that are beside my general point, would never answer my questions about how his family came to came to our shores. I know where my maternal grandparents (and Maternal Great grandparents) came from in Germany.

What I do know is that my father was abused by his father.

in turn that abuse continued. It ended with my sisters.

It's also in the Video and Multimedia group here on DU:

so yes, we all have stories to tell if we investigate our ancestry, so we know what you're saying.

Pre-Revolution, many came for religious freedom but who could doubt they came for economic reasons. Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, Holland sent explorers and established a presence in North America.

French Canada fled for economic reasons in the Quebec Diaspora. Irish fled in the potato famine and when their lands were repossessed. French fled the Bourbon kings. Germans and many of Central Europe fled after the Revolutions of 1848. Once you lived through Napoleon, more revolutions were a sign to leave. Italians fled for economic and political reasons even after Garibaldi strengthened the Italian State. Russians fled oppression of the Tsar back when he was the Czar.

Populations fleeing war and oppression and economic domination only increased in the 1900s. Everywhere people seek freedom and opportunity, yet governments keep being seized by tyrants. That is the world we live in. Free trade was supposed to lead to a level playing field and no comparative advantage. Yet here we are where our own political oligarchy is oppressing us because they're so greedy and believe they are God's chosen elite. Snooty.

I've run on to paint the picture. It's a bit impressionist. But you get the idea.

Opportunism fueled the western expansion within the Americas. Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, etc.

I'm not saying that many might have fled poverty or lack of opportunities in their original country but a lot of movement is for economic reasons.

The "westward-ho" movement in the US probably can't be based on persecution unless you were a non-white. The white expansion into the western states were people looking for better opportunities, and the opportunists that took advantage of their needs/wants.

It's what makes his words incredibly important to me.

I disagree with him on many issues, but I don't disagree with the idea that people need to be held to account.

n/t

A lot of young men came over from the German-speaking countries between 1850 and 1910 to avoid being drafted. What was unusual about Chump's grandfather was after he made a lot of money, he went back and they wouldn't allow him to stay. He even married a woman who had German citizenship, but they were forced to return to the U.S.

I believe my own great-grandfather came over from Hesse around 1855. He was about 18 years old, and it's likely that he wanted to avoid fighting in the Kaiser's army. My great-grandfather prospered in the Saint Louis area, and lived to the age of 93.

I'm sure their stories are every bit as compelling as our 20th century perspective. We only get the crests of the wave. Magars, Teutons, Visigoths, Huns, Vandals, Burgundians. Classical invaders were moving to new lands due to population growth in all directions. Modern hordes do, too. Gravitating toward the civilization which is best in dealing with population pressure. Seeking to find a place to eat and live. Feeders feed. It's painfully obvious that incremental success in the ever narrowing "field" of agriculture is killing this planet's ability to support humans hoping to continue living, enthralled with the status quo.

It's been said that Queen Victoria had lavish suppers, nightly. Grand affairs with tastes on the cutting edge of Epicurean technology. I'm glad she did, for it is the memory of those rich, savory, palatial orgies, more real in their digital re-telling, which will need suffice the fantasy of our palate's tasteless progeny.

You're relying on border crossings, if there was a border and if records were kept. Then you wait for digitalization of records, which is to say money or volunteerism to do the work. Across oceans, records were kept and filed with governments upon arrival - called ship's manifests. Grab a name and its many possible misspellings and a general time frame and you might be in business. There are sites besides ancestry. geni.com for example. As well as genealogical societies, historical societies in many locales.

happened IMO. The humiliation of being caught and the brand tarnished gave us Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ailes and others to change the political landscape so that someone like the Orange Menace could come into being.

A direct line from Nixon to the sedition last week.

Absolutely!!! They need to be held to account.

I really want more people to get this idea.

I was glad to see that there were groups of German school children there learning the truth about their country's history. There are fidiots in the US who are still fighting the Civil War.

Trump and his supporters are fascists.