#historical comparisons

[sopranoentravesti]

Yes, Forward is a tabloid-y mess, but Rabbi Salkin makes some excellent points that not only help clarify this moment those of us who are repeatedly having our historical traumas triggered by both glib analogies and the gestures of an unelected oligarch, but also serves to situate the present moment with other dark periods in American history.

Don’t compare Trump's US to Nazi Germany. These three American moments are more apt

The second Trump presidency recalls Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts, and the American Nazi movement of the 1930s.

[imkeepinit]

[toongrrl-blog]

Princess Lambelle = Barb Holland of the French Revolution

https://pin.it/n5yq7bzq5ks3zc

Princess de Lamballe, true friend of Marie Antoinette | Marie antoinette, 18th century fashion, Rococo

Princess de Lamballe, true friend of Marie Antoinette

[investmart007]

US CMBS Delinquency Rate Slides Lower in August

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/npRMqF

US CMBS Delinquency Rate Slides Lower in August

NEW YORK/ SEPTEMBER 08, 2018 (STL.News)

Trepp, LLC, a leading provider of information, analytics, and technology to the structured finance, commercial real estate, and banking markets, has released its August 2018 US CMBS Delinquency Report. The full report can be found here: https://info.trepp.com/august-2018-cmbs-delinquency-report-pr.

The Trepp CMBS Delinquency Rate decreased again in August, marking the sixth consecutive month in which the reading has dropped. The rate fell 17 basis points to 3.64% last month, which is a new post-crisis low. As the remaining legacy debt continues to be resolved and more new loans are issued into the pipeline, the reading can be expected to maintain its downward trajectory.

“While geopolitical events, trade negotiations, and the upcoming midterm elections have provided investors with plenty of drama, the CMBS market continues to be largely drama-free,” said Trepp Senior Managing Director, Manus Clancy. “Thanks to continued delinquency rate improvements and a solid pace of new issuance, the CMBS market in 2018 remains healthy and volatility-free for issuers and investors.

Lodging loans took over the rank of best performing major property type in July as its rate ended the month lower than that of the multifamily sector. However, multifamily loans reclaimed the title in August thanks to a 28-basis-point drop for a reading of 2.07%. The lodging delinquency rate slid three basis points lower to 2.22% last month. Readings for all five major property types decreased in August.

The CMBS 2.0+ delinquency rate increased again in August as it climbed seven basis points to 0.59%. Delinquencies in CMBS 1.0 rose 39 basis points to 46.79% last month. By property type, the largest movement in CMBS 2.0+ was observed in the retail sector as that rate jumped 44 basis points to 0.84% in August. The main reason for the increase was due to a $489 million loan backed by 123 Toys “R” Us properties turning 30 days delinquent.

For additional details, such as historical comparisons and analysis on potential future rate moves, download the August 2018 US CMBS Delinquency Report: https://info.trepp.com/august-2018-cmbs-delinquency-report-pr. For daily CMBS commentary, follow @TreppWire on Twitter.

About Trepp Trepp, LLC, founded in 1979, is the leading provider of information, analytics and technology to the CMBS, commercial real estate and banking markets. Trepp provides primary and secondary market participants with the web-based tools and insight they need to increase their operational efficiencies, information transparency and investment performance. From its offices in New York, San Francisco and London, Trepp serves its clients with products and services to support trading, research, risk management, surveillance and portfolio management. Trepp is wholly-owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). For more information, visit http://www.Trepp.com.

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prweb.com/releases/us_cmbs_delinquency_rate_slides_lower_in_august/prweb15744268.htm

[warsofasoiaf]

Rome(during its empire anyway) had a population of 1 million or around that number. is kings landings half a million that unbelievable compared to twice its number?

There was a decline in urban populations following the collapse of the Roman Empire, so I was using figures from a more analogous time period. I’m sure Old Valyria was the comparison to Rome and as such, probably had multiple millions of people.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[bara-hwyl-a-bri]

TBH I say I don't fanboy much any more but when you get me started on Current Affairs I begin to go a bit insane

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Some thoughts on warfare in Westeros

So I’ve seen a bit of meta recently about how warfare in ASOIAF is much more brutal than the equivalent at the same period of medieval history. Now, I’m not 100% convinced that every cristicism on this level is valid for a number of reasons.The main two reasons that Westerosi history deviates from European history in a few main ways- firstly, there is no "black death" equivalent, secondly, despite what we are told about St George, there are no dragons in Medieval Europe.

Looking at England at the time of the war of the roses, that started not long after the hundred years war, which lasted about 80 years, and during that period there was also the black death and the peasant’s revolt, and before the hundred years war, there was a period of fighting with Scotland (wars of Scottish independence) and Wales, and things weren’t exactly peaceful before that. Medieval England at the time of the war of the roses (which is seen as the most direct comparison for the events in ASOIAF) is actually in a very different state to Westeros before Robert's rebellion.

I think there are two main differences between our world and Westeros which can account for this. The first is the lack of a significant plague, like the black death, so population levels would probably have been higher. The thing about the black death/plague is whilst the most serious period ended in Europe in about 1350, it kept reoccurring, right up to the great plague of London (1665) and beyond. Some of these periods of reoccurrence had pretty high death tolls of 10-20% of the population, too.

In Westeros, there’s no real comparable plagues/diseases. Yes, we do hear about some periods of plague, such as the great spring sickness, but the effect of this on the population was not so severe. In the Sworn Sword, it says tens of thousands of people died. In the great plague of London, over 100,000 people were estimated to die in one city. Anyway, the great spring sickness is a one off event that occured about 100 years before the events of the main series, and didn’t kill nearly as many people, so it’s not comparable to the black death.

From this, it could be concluded that the peasant population of Westeros is comparatively higher than the peasant population of England/Europe at a similar time period.

There’s also a second major difference between Westeros and Medieval Europe. In Westeros, there were dragons. Yes, at the time of the series, dragons haven’t played a role in Westerosi warfare for roughly 150 years, but they also did play a role in the warfare of the Seven Kingdoms for at least as long, if not longer. We don’t know if the Targaryens ever got involved in Westerosi disputes before Aegon’s landing, but it’s not impossible.

The thing about dragons is that they are basically weapons of mass destruction. One dragon can easily wipe out an entire village or a huge number of soldiers- as demonstrated in the Princess and the Queen novella. I would say there is no sort of weapon that existed in the Medieval period which is close to being comparable. Cannons and gunpowder could destroy buildings, but you’d need a lot of them to match up to the level of destruction a dragon can cause, and they are nowhere near as mobile.

So, warfare in the seven kingdoms has developed in the presence of dragons, and if you are going to fight against a dragon (which at various points people have seemed willing to do), you have to expect heavy losses. Therefore, a style of warfare developed where the peasant soldiers were mostly seen as expendable. This is probably why in Westeros we don’t really see any groups of people comparable to English bowmen or Swiss Pikemen (who came a bit later than the hundred years war, but not majorly so).

I think what we see in people destroying whole villages and having hugely fatal battles in the war of the five kings and beyond is realistic for a society where warfare has been influenced by the presence of dragons. The Targaryens probably regularly used the threat of destroying villages to keep order. There’s also not a lack of peasants, as there was in the aftermath of the black death, and no threat of recurrent plagues. After the long summer, the population of Westeros is probably quite healthy, maybe even too dense in some areas- therefore rich lords like Tywin Lannister and Mace Tyrell don’t care if thousands of peasants die.

I don’t know if GRRM planned this deliberately, but I think the warfare that exists in Westeros is realistic for a society that was up until relatively recently having to contend with dragons being used in warfare.