Random videos

[Leo Enticknap]

It's nice to know that the U.K. repaid its war debt but, at the time, I don't think that the U.S. Government gave very much thought to repayment. The Lend-Lease act was more of a way for the U.S. to leverage its economic power in a way beside fighting directly against the Nazis.

Historians have debated until they're blue in the face whether or not FDR's administration saw lend-lease (to the UK) as a precursor to US entry into the war or a way to remain at arm's length from it, but what is not controversial is that FDR was under huge pressure domestically to keep out of the war in Europe. Gerald Nye's America First Movement were gaining popularity, making the case that (i) look how the USA's involvement in WWI turned out - hundreds of thousands of American deaths for no gain; (ii) that this is an internal European conflict, and no benefit to the USA will result from any involvement; and (iii) recovery from the Great Depression is still fragile, undermining the case for spending tax dollars on getting involved in a European war. Making any assistance to the UK strictly a loan, to be repaid, was the only way FDR had any chance whatsoever of getting it through Congress.

Those who perceived the Nazis to be a (potentially, at least) direct threat to America tried very hard to swing the debate, through propaganda movies such as Blockade and Confessions of a Nazi Spy, and portraying Fritz Kuhn and his German-American Bund to be a major threat to national security, rather than a small bunch of wack jobs who dressed up in swastika uniforms and went camping in the Appalachians, which is essentially what they were. But these efforts went nowhere until Pearl Harbor was attacked, and the economic and military ties between Germany and Japan ensured that America's entry into the war was not restricted to the Pacific.

[Randy Stankey]

Yes, I took that history class in the early 1980's.

I also knew that Finland changed sides during the war and that they didn't receive a whole lot of aid from the U.S.

I wasn't talking about the amounts. Countries like the U.K. received large amounts of aid while others received only small amounts. The U.K. received huge amounts of aid compared to Finland.

It's nice to know that the U.K. repaid its war debt but, at the time, I don't think that the U.S. Government gave very much thought to repayment. The Lend-Lease act was more of a way for the U.S. to leverage its economic power in a way beside fighting directly against the Nazis. I think that the term "Lend-Lease" was said in a "wink, wink... nudge, nudge" kind of way, meaning that we (the U.S. Gov't.) didn't really expect full repayment on any kind of schedule. It's kind of like the way you might lend money to a friend or family member to help them out of a tight spot then say, "Just pay me back when you can." Meaning that you know it will be a long time before you see that money again, if ever. But you also know that, if you ever needed help, that person would do the same for you.

I was talking more in the direction of certain political die-hards who "conveniently" seem to forget important facts in history.

[Leo Enticknap]

According to my history teacher in high school, we were told that Finland is the only country that repaid its WWII debt to the U.S. from the Lend-Lease program.

Depending on when you were in school, that might have been correct at the time. The UK made its final payment on December 29, 2006.

I believe that Finland was almost unique, in that it fought both for the Nazis and the Allies during WWII. Their principal enemy was the USSR, hence changing sides (the USSR entered World War II as an Axis power, and ended it on the side of the Allies). Finland's involvement was in three phases: the "Winter War" from August 1939 to March 1940, which was defensive against an attack by the USSR; the "Continuation War", from December 6, 1941 (when the UK formally declared war on Finland resulting from Finland's military support for Nazi Germany, following the breakdown in the Nazi-Soviet Pact) until September 1944, and then finally the "Lapland War," in which Finland fought the Nazis, from December 1944 until April 1945.

So if there was any Lend Lease from the USA to Finland, it can't have been very much, because the two nations weren't even fighting on the same side until only five months before the end of the war.

[Frank Cox]

Undercover Santa and Elf on a drug raid in Peru

https://youtu.be/BtJbkhc6cFk

[Randy Stankey]

According to my history teacher in high school, we were told that Finland is the only country that repaid its WWII debt to the U.S. from the Lend-Lease program.

Okay... So Finland is a small country and they probably didn't have much debt from Lend-Lease but it's not the money that's important.

Have you ever known a person who, if you take them out to lunch, they always ask whether they can pay their half of the bill, even if you say, "My treat?"

Finland is like that guy.

It's not so much about the money but more about the gesture and the respect that goes with it.

I'd take Finland out to lunch, again, any time.

[Helmut Maripuu]

Made inFinland

[Helmut Maripuu]

Made in Finlan

[Frank Cox]

This 81-year-old Italian man couldn't visit his wife in hospital, so he serenaded her from the street

If music be the food of love, play on -- especially when coronavirus restrictions leave you with little other option.
Prevented from visiting his sick wife in hospital, 81-year-old Stefano Bozzini decided to take to the street outside to serenade her on his accordion.
While Carla Sacchi, his wife of 47 years, watched from a second-floor window of the hospital in Castel San Giovanni, a town in Italy's northern Emilia-Romagna region, the sprightly troubadour played a medley of love songs on his accordion below.

https://www.facebook.com/10000803949...2340390377250/

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I love this video, the recording of Universal Studios' 100th Anniversary Logo music. The newer orchestral arrangement and the addition of the choral voices really makes this theme epic. Not since the "Cinemascope Extension" to the 20th Century Fox logo has a opening logo given me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG7x89vX2hk

[Frank Cox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCqZQUhBBHw

This has to be the most absurd song I've ever heard.

[Marcel Birgelen]

You don't have to look far for some real-life endorsements of those same batteries.

Everything Old is Old again

I reserve the right to steal that quote.

[Frank Cox]

Bruce Willis advertising Die Hard batteries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7kF...ature=youtu.be

[Martin McCaffery]

Welcome to 2020, everything that happened before it is considered retro.

Everything Old is Old again

[Marcel Birgelen]

1999 is Retro?

Welcome to 2020, everything that happened before it is considered retro.


Regarding the current pandemic, I stumbled upon this little video from a few months ago. Kudos for the creator for the simulations, but it's somehow scary how things worked out in the end... I guess things like science and logic are still the best way to approach the world around us...

[Martin McCaffery]

Instead we step inside this Retro Movie

1999 is Retro?