This news story made the rounds through my circles today.

This news story made the rounds through my circles today.

This news story made the rounds through my circles today. In some comments I promised to share a story of my grandfather, and what honoring German ancestry should probably look like.

My Opa was forcefully expatriated from Germany at the end of WWI when he was a teenager. The family was fairly influential in the German Empire, and the Weimar Republic had no use for Prussian aristocracy. He was given two years to learn a language and a trade.

When he got to the US he was determined to integrate. He never taught his children any German, nor did he discuss his family. He was stoic, but proud.

I know, a proud, stoic Prussian. It beggars belief.

By the time my cousin Rick and I came along (his only two male grandchildren) he had relaxed a bit. This is how I know what I know of our family. Rick was a couple of years older, and began learning about WW2 before I did. During one visit, he asked my grandfather, “Opa, what happened in Germany? You don’t believe any of these things.”

The old man’s face went red, and for the first and only time in my life I heard him use profanity.

“You take some fucking Austrian housepainter and put him in charge of Bavarian Catholic peasants, what do you think will happen! They ruined the country! You cannot have Germany without Jews, and you cannot have Jews without Germany! The Jews took care of the family money. They were my professors. They taught me music and art and literature. I will say no more about this. We are Americans. We do not shed tears over a broken past. We fix the future.”

This is German heritage.

Just after the election I posted a quote from Kaiser Wilhelm II. It bears repeating. It’s worth remembering. As we fix the future.

But of our Germany, which was a nation of poets and musicians, of artists and soldiers, he has made a nation of hysterics and hermits, engulfed in a mob and led by a thousand liars or fanatics. – Kaiser Wilhelm II on Adolf Hitler, December 1938

I am proud of my German heritage. And as a proud scion of a noble Prussian house I say NAZIS RAUS!

Vielen danke, Opa. Ins Himmel bist du.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/new-orleans-principal-fired-over-nazi-jewelry-complains-white-people-cant-show-ethnic-pride/amp/

Hey! Google! Where is Google Bookmarks?

Hey! Google! Where is Google Bookmarks?

Hey! Google! Where is Google Bookmarks?

It’s not listed on the services page any more, and I get a never-ending redirect loop when trying to access my bookmarks.

If you retired the service, I never got a notification. Are all my online bookmarks gone? With no warning?

Is this a case of “fix yo’ shizzle” or a case of “fsck you, consumer?”

Jeff Bailey Martin Pool Yonatan Zunger

Fifteen hours ago the phrase “retconned covfefe” would have made it seem I was drunk. Now you’re all nodding.

Fifteen hours ago the phrase “retconned covfefe” would have made it seem I was drunk. Now you’re all nodding.

Fifteen hours ago the phrase “retconned covfefe” would have made it seem I was drunk. Now you’re all nodding.

Welcome to 2017.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/31/trump-covfefe-tweet-238967

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/31/trump-covfefe-tweet-238967

Whether you pronounce it cohv-FAY-fay or cohv-FEE-fee, I think covfefe should be the new term for LGBTQ allies.

Whether you pronounce it cohv-FAY-fay or cohv-FEE-fee, I think covfefe should be the new term for LGBTQ allies.

Whether you pronounce it cohv-FAY-fay or cohv-FEE-fee, I think covfefe should be the new term for LGBTQ allies.

She’s not gay, just a covfefe.

Someday I might share the extended remix I did of this song.

Someday I might share the extended remix I did of this song.

Someday I might share the extended remix I did of this song. Today is not that day. Because I’m putting on my headset, stepping into the dark, looking at the stars, and feeling small but vast.

So is Geoffrey Snyder​. And so should you.

https://youtu.be/Ah-UrOXpats