I went to Berlin’s main shopping street KuDamm yesterday on Sunday before Christmas to take in the surreal scene.
A view of the Ku.
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Category: Feature
Features and opinions on a range of topics from politics to technology. Sometimes the features are serious, sometimes they are fun. Check them out.
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Empty on Christmas
Normally, the last weekend before Christmas stores bustle. During this season retailers earn as much as 50% of their yearly income. Not this year, all is closed because of the latest lock down. I visited a neighborhood mall. Three more stores have permanently closed. Brick and mortar retail will have fewer and fewer locales after this season.
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Anna Wintour-A Survivor
Boy, did I get this wrong. Anna Wintour is the Great Survivor. The ultimate editor in chief had a hard 2020. Not only are magazine sales plummeting, Black Lives Matter has placed a spot light on company policies. By her own admittance, Vogue was not a friendly work place for people of color with a lack of diversity. Then came the remarks from ex bff Andre Talley. Speculation was rife, those sunglasses would be packing up, leaving the New York Conde Nast headquarters at the right time.
The past few weeks have major exits of international Vogue editors. Chinese founding head Angelica Cheung departed in November. It was last week, when I got a sudden message, German Vogue chief Christian Arp would leave her position at Conde Nast in December citing personal reasons after 17 years at the magazine. Business of Fashion reported Arp was pushed out. Vogue Spain editor Eugenia de la Torriente resigned last month. What is going on at the publishing house?
Not All On One Card
Conde Nast honcho Roger Lynch has decided to streamline operations as well as have one voice over all 30 titles. Ms. Wintour’s new titles are Chief Content Officer and Global Editorial Director of Vogue. Thankfully, I do not think she needs to worry about putting all that on a business card. Lynch states, “Anna’s appointment represents a pivotal moment for Condé Nast as her ability to stay ahead in connecting with new audiences.” An interesting comment given the realities of the past year.
The more interesting variable is the rise of Vogue UK chief Edward Einnful. His approach has made the title relevant. Mr. Einnful will oversee France, Germany, Spain and Italy Vogue editions.
It is no secret magazines have struggled over the past years. Vogue and Conde Nast have not kept up with the times. Ad budgets have spread across different platforms. Print sales have declined. Titles have closed. Staff layoffs. How does this new deck chair arrangement change the present landscape for Conde Nast? Instagram and Tik Tok have become the place for instant fashion influence and inspiration. I see cost savings in this revamp, but no fresh ideas. That could be a continuing problem for the Vogue team.
Stay tuned for all the episodes.
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Black Friday in 2020
I ventured out on Saturday to check on the stores on Black Friday. In Alexander Platz the normal Christmas hustle and bustle was there but not overwhelming. Covid 19 worries kept many people away from the stores.
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Case Study:Trump
Loath him. Hate him. Love him. Whatever the opinion of the President, he gave a master class in political theatre.. His many detractors will have a hard time admitting this. The course title: “How to grab the highest office in the land on one try. Granted, he had a head start, money, brand recognition, celebrity. However, by using unsavoury tactics, playing into the darkest core of the America’s rage, fear and prejudices, he managed to hoodwink the country.
Number 45’s political dissection will become case studies in university classes. Shameful behaviour is no longer out of bounds. While Biden probably gets a few book chapters on the rise to power, Trump will have entire library selves. Many future politicians will borrow from Donald’s trove. Always hold the spotlight. A certain way to engage large crowds, the seemingly insult retardant skin. Or the less than enduring “most important man in the room syndrome”.
Leaders of Democracies are strange creatures. Why would anyone want a thankless job with limited time span, always at the centre of ferocious criticism? At any politicians core lays a bottomless well of narcissism. This is a universal trait. Clinton based his personality on compartmentalisation to justify unpleasant actions. Yet, Donald Trump brought a new level of leadership lacking self awareness, a zero humility outlook. Don’t learn a lesson, just bulldoze it, never look back. This style would have sunk most politicians. For some reason it only added to the narrative, at times becoming myths. The world asked daily questions: “He said what?” “He did what?” “Who did he insult?”
Thankfully, the United States is done with Trump. Yet this President’s influence will come in another form. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
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A Return of the Jedi Ending!
Activist Micheal Moore tweeted images of fireworks in the air. Did the Death Star explode after a successive Rebel Alliance attack? Celebrations are taking place all over the planet as if the Galactic Emperor had been slain.
The past 4 years have come to a close with the defeat of a man many loathed. No more nervous twitches while looking over the screen for the latest news. A man governing the most powerful country in the world by Twitter has ended. Trump is leaving the White House one way or the other. A vulgar character who never matured into the role of having the highest office of the land. For some reason he retained and relished all his bull in a china shop short comings. Shockingly, this did not bother many voters. The President gained 8 million more votes than his past campaign.
The US will rejoin the world but as a different country than before 2016. A deeply divided nation at war with itself. What is the expression: “Dysfunctional breeds dysfunctional”. Trump was a love child of a very dysfunctional political system. A man who used the apparatus to stroke his over the top narcissism.
Optimist point to a national healing, that will not happen. America is sick patient on the brink. Covid-19 ravages its citizens, unemployment at record levels, business closed, wealth inequality grows.
The Blue Landslide that was suppose happen, never materialized. The Democrats lost seats in the House. The party infighting has begun. As for the Republicans, they suffered a defeat but have licked their wounds and are now prepared for the upcoming Congressional battles. They lost a buffoon, but are still standing waiting for next a leader who will be darker and smarter.
Biden has his hands full over the next 48 months.
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Fear. Stress. Disbelief. The scenes playing out in the United States. A President losing an election hunkering down in the White House. What comes next is anyone’s guess. Biden’s wins a tainted chalice. The 46thleader is suppose to unite the country. Instead he inherits a divided electorate, gridlock in Congress.
Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson:
The dream of “togertherness”dissipated with an agonizing three day voter count. Coming in second place with over 70 million votes, Trump followers will be in no mood for compromise. Many will nurse feelings of being short changed, marginalised. Half of the America’s voters did not renounce Trumpism. The movement will fester, wait for a leader, then spring into action, meaner, madder, with a plan.
NINA
Politician Mrs. Nina Turner says it best below:
Joe Biden is the hapless character of those wanting a return to the status quo. The Democrats have the morale courage of a hedge fund broker. Pelosi and friends will misread the 2020 election, sitting in their elite bubbles, patting themselves on the back for getting rid of an aberration who beat them in 2016 and came close to defeated them again. Having demonized the left, the powers of the party will continue on their hyper neo-liberal highway of personal enrichment at the expense of the desperate working class and shrinking middle class. OH MY! Sooner, not later, the political class will crash into a brick wall. Think Berlin Wall 1989.
A number of Black males and Latino voters turned against the blue side for Donald, as a protest statement. They understand the certainty nothing will relieve their plight. The 2020 election made many realise the same. Life under a not much loved President Biden will not get better.
Donald Trump was a symptom of a rotting system. One that could be in its death throes.
2024 may see Ivanka Trump make a run for the office. Who’s ready for that?
This voter went 3rd party in 2020.
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Partial,, Lockdown PT2
Berlin, like the rest Europe, entered another lockdown today. Will this work? The air of growing uncertainty cannot be ignored. Supposedly for only 30 days, then the curve will be under control. Bars, restaurants and gyms have closed. Citizens are understandably a bit frustrated by the backward step handling of the Corona Virus. Once Merkel garnered international praise for her calm handling of the pandemic. Today Covid-19 has marched past Chancellor. Her once precision decision making skills seems reactionary.
At least Germany is not France. The 450 mile/724 kilometres traffic jam of Parisians fleeing the capital made global headlines. Is this a new form of Gallic public defiance? The French have become weary of Macron’s decrees. Or to put it simply, “The masses no longer have faith in the leader”. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.
Patience has run out in Spain and Italy. Riots continue to shake their respective cities. The governments of the two Latin countries are behaving as parents in a store with uncontrollable children. But the children no longer believe the parents have their best interest at heart. Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez veers from one pronouncement to another. He is losing control.
The UK will enter a new lockdown on Thursday. Prime Minister Johnson is one step away from open political revolt. There will be no praise for the British head’s fumbling. The very “Britisness” of the system worked against him.
And it is only November.
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Under Siege
The past few days in Berlin felt like a Battle. The Rigger Strasse protests show a city not managing gentrification well. On one side, the police, on the other, protesters. The clashes went on day and night.
The Building No. 34 
Church 
Anti Gentrification Work 
Kiez Support 
Graffiti 
The Street
At Times It Felt A Battle
The city had a Donald Trump attitude flexing its muscle. Police from all over Germany arrived to reinforce local patrols. It felt like an occupation.
During this time of the operation, Berlin became a Covid Hotspot. Perhaps this was not the best time for a mass operation to evict 40 people from a building.
Bavarian Police Gathering 
Frankfurter Allee 
Banner for 34 
Street Scene 
Blocked off Rigaer Strasse 
Police Helicopter