Battle Road Digital’s Post

As I reflect on our celebrations of Memorial Day and D-day, I am so humbled. Countless brave, selfless Americans sacrificed everything to protect our freedoms and the American way of life. I am so thankful. Today our freedoms are not being used to have robust debates to bring about positive change. Instead, they are being used to polarize, divide and tear our nation apart. You are either "for us" or "against us." If you are "against us" then you are the enemy. Instead of tolerance we have mocking, ridicule and outright hatred. Where is tolerance in this? Tolerance does not mean I accept, celebrate and endorse your view point or personal lifestyle choices. Rather, it means I can disagree with your view or choice and still respect you as a person and treat you with the common courtesy and respect that all deserve. Tolerance is a fundamental by-product of individual rights and freedoms, yet it is lacking in today's society. Our brave military sacrificed everything to preserve our way of life. Today we have people who have never served or sacrificed anything for anyone doing everything they can to destroy our way of life. What has happened to our nation? It must break the hearts of our veterans. May we as a nation reflect on this and relearn common courtesy, decency, tolerance for and respect of others. May we use our freedoms to make our communities and nation a better place to live for all, not worse.

Every journey begins here.

Written by my brother-in-law. A good read and well stated by Kevin.

INVISIBLE FORCES - Recognizing the weapons of our enemy and how to resist them How many of us consider the Devil an adversarial force in our Christian lives? We’re aware of him, but he receives little attention. This is unfortunate because he has many avenues at his disposal that he uses against us. This book will help us recognize his multi-faceted deceptions and the spiritual weapons available to us to thwart his advances. We’ll also learn about who He was before he rebelled against God, what he looks like, the physical characteristics, supernatural abilities, and purposes of the supernatural creatures that support him, and why he wages war against believers. Are you ready to become a victorious soldier in the war against the forces of evil? Website: https://lnkd.in/gNjs-kSK

We talk about failed integration or people with different backgrounds than the majority. Look at the integration of the 2 former German nations, DDR and Federal Republic of Germany!

"We're working urgently for generational change. True success involves advancing durable solutions that will be sustained over decades and centuries." When colleagues in philanthropy and NGO leadership are targeting bold change in short timelines, I appreciate the ambition but typically respond with the comment above. I believe our work for climate and environmental justice requires a clear-eyed commitment to durable, sustained shifts. We are living this year in Berlin, learning and reading about the history and culture of Germany. This graphic below was shared with me today, and the long-term impact of the East-West divide is striking. Deep change takes sustained effort over time. #systemschange #climateaction

Greatest economic/political experiment ever performed (along with Korea) and still yielding results. (Kind of fast so hit pause and slide to study more carefully.) Interesting that former East Germany has higher percentages voting for "Ultra Right Afd" and "Left". This is consistent with my long-held view that the political continuum when defined as Right and Left is in reality a circle where far Right and far Left come together under the tent of all-powerful government. If you want to draw a meaningful line, it's best to use limited constitutional (small) government and all-powerful (big) government as the end members.

Map needs to be redone with J&K, Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Punjab shown as red, UP, Andhra, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan as amber

These truly are amazing maps, except...they don’t tell the true story.   Take a look at the map in the comment to this post. It seems to confirm the hypothesis that #communism in East #Germany had profoundly changed that part of the country, throwing it on an entirely different #socioeconomic path compared with West Germany. Well...not quite. The below map shows data on the share of #bluecollar workers per region from...1925 .   The post-war division of Germany into two countries, one #communist and one #capitalist, is not as great of a #naturalexperiment as it may seem. This in turn shows how difficult socio-economic #research, and thus #evidencebased #policymaking, can sometimes be.   So, why the two German states are not a perfect natural experiment? 1. East and West Germany were very different even BEFORE #WW2. And not only regarding the labor force. Before WW2, Eastern Germany showed higher support for the communist party, was almost entirely protestant (90%), while the West was roughly 50% Protestant and 50% Catholic. The level of religiousness was lower, women were more likely to work outside the home, etc., etc. Many traits typically associated with communist influence were already more pronounced in the East before the communists came to power. 2. Emigration. Until 1961 when the Berlin wall was erected, around 20% of Germans from the East fled to the West. And this group was not random: these were relatively younger, and better educated people. 3. The German Democratic Republic (East) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West) had different economic starting points as Russia (how surprising) pretty much looted whatever it could from its zone of control (East). The cost of #reparations per capita in the East are estimated to have been 73% higher than in the West. Source, which I recommend to those interested in the subject and which I based this post on is a fascinating 2020 paper: The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism, by Sascha O. Becker, Lukas Mergele, and Ludger Woessmann. This paper is also the source of the map I shared in the comment.

Our deepest gratitude to our fallen heroes and their families. Wishing everyone a peaceful Memorial Day. Let us remember and honor their courage, dedication, and selflessness. May their sacrifices never be forgotten, and may we always cherish the gift of liberty they have secured for us. #memorialday #memorialdayweekend #realestate #realtorlife #realestatebroker #realestatelife #realestateagent #realtor  #realestateinvesting #realestateadvice #robertslackllc #robertslackrealestate