Things We Learned Today... | Page 132 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Ron Nasty said
A first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is worth a feck load of money!!!! A copy from the first run of 500 copies, sold by a library 20 years ago for £1, sold for £28,500 today.

  

I have a first edition of Goblet of Fire, guess how much it’s worth?

About £6- hell yes.

I also have firsts for 5-7 but they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Potter stuff I do have that is worth some quid are 4 limited edition 3D cups that were released to promote the Chamber of Secrets that I got at a local supermarket- I think most people threw them out as they’re worth about £15 each now. I ALMOST have a complete set, am missing Harry and Malfoy flying. I have a few other bits and bobs that are  probably worth about £100-£150 all together but the cups are the most valuable.

[Image Can Not Be Found]

(I have 2 of the ‘Hogwarts staff’ ones).

Today I learned:

Ethiopia is considered by some scholars to be the only African country never colonised. Italy occupied it from 1936-1941 but they never colonised it.

I think he’s a t**t too, a man who thinks saying things fast and debating college students instead of big guns, makes him out to be some clever man*. 

One of the stupidest comments he’s ever made was calling FDR “garbage for the economy”. The man was the greatest president the US has had since Lincoln and probably ever will have (he’s No. 1 in my books). I’d love to see Shapiro suggest better ways on how to run an economy during extreme wartime. FDR also greatly helped the people who were most affected by the Depression, which Calvin and Hoover (both Republicans) let happen! Is it a case of “f**k the poor” with him? We don’t want the poor to have suitable housing, a minimum wage, social security or to not be discriminated against (as much as you could do in the 1940’s), do we Ben? They brought their poverty on themselves! Not all of us have mommies and daddies who work in Hollywood 🙁 .

*I’ve always wanted to take him on on the topic of abortion, it’s one of my dreams in life. 

Well it’s all learning isn’t it? I’m sure a lot of people here don’t know what FDR achieved. 

I disagree with your points on him being “the root of most modern day racism”. America has a problem with race which has been there since Columbus and will probably always be there. I’m not really qualified to speak on race issues in America though and I don’t particularly want to talk about a country’s racial issues that are so different to Ireland’s. 

You are placing 21st century ideas of race and integration on an America that existed 86-74 years ago, if you were to go back to 1930’s USA, Roosevelt’s plans of placing black Americans in their own areas/ghettos would have been accepted by most of the white population to protect the value of their property and to deter crime in their own areas (as they saw it). We do also know that areas which weren’t affected by Jim Crow laws and that had happy mixed societies, still had housing areas based on race constructed- which yes, is awful.

Yes the US’ treatment of the Japanese American* population during WW2 was abhorrent, especially as the majority were citizens of the US. It came across from a nationwide grip of panic (does that sound familiar in 2019?) that significantly halted and made Japanese families lose a lot of their wealth (in property in particular). Looking at US opinion polls of the Japanese people during WW2, Roosevelt’s actions had a majority support from the American public.

Yes FDR’s presidency had problems with racial issues and indeed they did increase the racial divide that the US had but a divide had already existed before FDR, were deepened during his presidency, and continue to be exasperated to this day.

HOWEVER:

Thanks to FDR:

Social security

Rural electrification 

He greatly improved infrastructure nationwide to such a scale that hasn’t been seen since.

Expanded National Parks

Your savings in the bank are now insured by the Federal Government up to a certain amount.

Along with a load of other things that I will type out if you ask for them.

Like every single president, there were scandals- his threat of Supreme Court packing, internment camps and many, many others but FDR’s positives effects on the US are still very much visible and the country is better off because of him. FDR left office on 70% appreciation rating, the likes of that will most likely never be seen again as the US has become so politically divided.

To call him “not a good president”, goes against the vast majority of historians’ and economists’ opinion on Roosevelt, he may not be your favourite president- but he definitely deserves a spot in everyone’s top 5, or at the very least top 10- because there have been truly AWFUL men who were president so they take up your bottom 8 or some places. The only way I think you could actively say you hate Roosevelt is if you are a very rich, privileged person who has never fallen or knows someone who’s fallen on hard times.

*People always seem to forget about German and Italian emigrants that were also interred albeit on a lesser basis as they were interviewed.