Liliputin- 5041

I can see Russia from my Penthouse ... "
Donald J. Trump

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101



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“I can see Russia from my house” – Sarah Palin
©Photo Credit: Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock.
Today I Found Out writes, “Sarah Palin never said ‘I can see Russia from my house.’ Tina Fey did, in a hilarious skit on Saturday Night Live.” Palin’s actual statement was about how close Russia and Alaska are to each other. The quote is often used to critique her foreign policy credentials, even though it’s inaccurate.

It was actually comedian Tina Fey, who was impersonating Ms. Palin on Saturday Night Live, who uttered the line that is now widely attributed to the former Alaska governor. The basis for this line comes from a September 2008 interview with ABC News 's Charles Gibson, who asked Palin what insights she had from her state being so close to Russia.


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Sarah Palin Revives Comment She Can 'See Russia' From Alaska
Updated Apr 08, 2022
By Jason Lemon

Sarah Palin, the former Republican governor of Alaska, is reminding voters that you "can see Russia" from her home state—reviving a remark that drew mockery when she unsuccessfully campaigned as former GOP Presidential candidate Senator John McCain's vice presidential running mate in 2008. Palin announced last Friday that she would seek to fill Alaska's lone House seat formerly held by long-serving Republican Representative Don Young, who died on March 18. The former governor and former vice presidential candidate, who has not sought an elected office since her unsuccessful run with McCain, was quickly endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Speaking on former Trump White House official Steve Bannon's War Room podcast on Thursday, Palin complained about the situation at the southern border and then referred to Alaska's proximity to Russia. "When you're talking about what's going on at the border—the non-existent border," Palin said, "that reminds me how important it is, that all Alaskans realize it. Now Alaska is strategically located on the globe—as you know—you don't laugh about the fact that you can see Russia from Alaska, and Canada is right there on our other side." Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin reminded voters on Thursday that you "can see" Russia from her home state. Palin speaks during her appearance at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center on June 26, 2016, in Pasadena,... More
Palin touted the "strategic location and the security we [Alaskans] can provide." The GOP congressional candidate lamented that "those in Washington" take Alaska for granted. In 2008, Palin drew mockery and a joke at her expense on Saturday Night Live (SNL) after she referenced Alaska's proximity to Russia in an interview with ABC News. "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska," the then-governor said. Days later on SNL, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler appeared in a sketch portraying Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton respectively. During that humorous exchange, Fey as Palin asserted: "And I can see Russia from my house." Since then, many have misattributed Fey's joke as Palin's original comment. While many made fun of Palin's comment, it was actually accurate. Alaska and Russia are separated by the Bering Strait, which is just 55 miles wide at its narrowest point. Within the strait are two small islands that are located less than two and a half miles apart. One of the islands, Big Diomede, is situated within Russian territory and the other, Little Diomede, is part of the U.S. On a clear day, it is possible to see the Russian territory from the Alaskan island. During the Korean War, the U.S. had troops stationed in Alaska to observe the movements of the Soviet Union's forces. The now-defunct Soviet Union supported the North Koreans in that conflict while the U.S. backed South Korea. Don Voss, a retired U.S. Army corporal, discussed what he and other soldiers did in Alaska during the Korean War in a 2018 interview with the Chicago Tribune. "Alaska is pretty close to Russia," he said, explaining that they would track Soviet aircraft. "We could pick them up about 125 miles away and track them into about 25 miles from where we were located. Then we'd turn it over to the anti-aircraft outfit and they would take it from there," Voss said. "It was an important job at that time. You never knew what was going to happen." The U.S. purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 for the sum of $7.2 million—the equivalent of about $138 million today. In her announcement about her congressional candidacy, Palin said in a statement: "America is at a tipping point. As I've watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight." Trump and other high-profile Republicans quickly threw their support behind her. "Sarah shocked many when she endorsed me very early in 2016, and we won big," the former president said in a Sunday statement. "Now, it's my turn."

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Trump Tower penthouse of Donald Trump

The penthouse apartment of Donald Trump at the Trump Tower was the primary residence of Trump and his family since the tower's construction in 1983 until 2019. The original decorator of the apartment was Angelo Donghia; it was subsequently remodelled in gold by Henry Canversano. The stated size of the apartment has been subject to various estimates by Trump. The triplex apartment is located on floors 56, 57, and 58 of the Trump Tower in Manhattan. The apartment is the residence of Trump, his wife Melania, and their son Barron. The tower was their primary residence until October 2019. The Trump Organization offices are on the 25th and 26th floors, and there is a private elevator between the penthouse and Trump's office. Trump's then-wife Ivana told Steven M.L. Aronson of Architectural Digest that adjusting to living in the newly completed penthouse was "highly stressful and taking its toll" with the 'grand showcase living' of the space and that she and Donald would retreat back to their comfortable apartment in a Trump building on Third Avenue for a couple of nights a week. Aronson found her comments "immensely sympathetic". In a 1984 article in GQ magazine, Trump's first wife Ivana said the first floor of the penthouse had the living, dining, and entertainment rooms and kitchen; the second floor had their bedrooms and bathrooms as well as a balcony over the living room; and the third had bedrooms for the children, maids, and guests. When Trump and Melania's son Barron was born, Ellen DeGeneres gave the Trumps a gold baby carriage with a mini crystal chandelier, and other gifts in his nursery in the apartment included a large stuffed dog from Barbara Walters and a large stuffed green frog from Gayle King. Trump has described it as the "best apartment ever built, they say" and the "finest apartments in the top building in the best location in the hottest city in the world". Trump has frequently shown the apartment to journalists and reporters profiling him. Trump told the Forbes reporter Dan Alexander that he "[didn't] show it to anybody" despite it having been previously visited by 60 Minutes, Architectural Digest and People magazine. The apartment was profiled in the July 1985 issue of Architectural Digest by Steven M.L. Aronson. Ivanka Trump gave a walkthrough of her disused bedroom in the 2003 documentary Born Rich. The original design for the triplex apartment was created by Angelo Donghia. Prior to his work on Trump's apartment, Donghia had decorated apartments for Ralph Lauren and Bernie Madoff. The apartment was completed on time for the opening of the Trump Tower in 1983. Donghia was given responsibility for the entire design, layout, and decoration of the apartment. It was a raw concrete shell with no windows when his work on the apartment began. Donghia's design for the apartment was approved by Ivana Trump, then Trump's wife. Ivana and Donghia's associate, Tim Macdonald, executed Donghia's designs after meeting with the building contractors. Macdonald later said that "None of those working on the project really had any interaction with Donald Trump" and that Ivana was "a fantastic manager and wonderful client". Donghia was subsequently asked by Donald Trump if he would do another project for him but Donghia said that he would only do so if he was paid the entirety of the costs up front. The project never occurred. Donghia described Trump as "[knowing] exactly who he is, and what he wants ... He has very quick judgment and a very definite attitude about what he likes. With Donald, you don't spend a lot of time wondering whether something is right or wrong — it's (a) or it's (b) and that's that. And everything you do for him has to be done 'great'". Donghia's entrance hall to the apartment had lacquered walls with polished bronze railings and dark marble. The large living room space had "chocolate walls, bronze mirrors, and gold leaf ceiling" which created a sense of intimacy despite the massive size of the room. The living room had a crystal chandelier and a chimney framed by recessed lighting from cathode-tubes. Donghia's design was in black-and-white and brass-and-mahogany. A profile on Donghia published in New York Times in January 1983 titled "Behind Angelo Donghia's Gray Flannel Success", led to a subsequent exchange of letters in the newspaper between the architectural firm Swanke Hayden Connell and Trump. John Peter Barie from Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (S.H.C.A.) wrote that he had personally designed all the foor plans for the units in the tower including Trump's triplex and "laid out all spatial and form relationships and established all horizontal and vertical dimensions for all three levels of the Trump triplex". Trump replied that "Numerous designers, architects and consultants were hurt" by Barie's letter and they were "overreaching in not granting Der Scutt, Angelo Donghia and others the credit which they so justly deserve". Jesse Kornbluth wrote in a 2017 article for BuzzFeed that Donghia's designs for the apartment were a logical successor to his work at the Metropolitan Opera Club at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center. Donald Trump described Donghia's designs as "comfortable modernism". Donghia learned he had AIDS shortly after finishing Trump's apartment and died two years later in 1985. The apartment was remodeled in gold by Henry Conversano, a former nightclub singer and Pratt Institute-trained industrial designer long retained by casino impresarios; previously, Conversano remodeled Trump's Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino.
The remodelling was analysed in the The Oxford Handbook of Decadence and was described by design critic Peter York as an example of 'dictator chic'. York wrote that "No matter how you looked at it, the main thing [Trump's] apartment said was, "I am tremendously rich and unthinkably powerful". This was the visual language of public, not private, space. It was the language of the Eastern European and Middle Eastern nouveau riche". York felt that Trump's style was diametrically opposed to the restrained neo-classicism of the architecture of Washington D.C. which "evoke stability and trustworthiness through their restraint" and seek to project "a message of simplicity, democracy and egalitarianism". The gold remodelling was reportedly ordered by Trump after he saw the more lavish house of Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi. The square footage of the apartment and the accompanying number of rooms has been subject to various estimates since its construction. In September 2015, Trump told Forbes reporter Dan Alexander that the apartment was 33,000 sq ft (3,100 m2) plus roof space of 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2), making a total of 48,000 sq ft (4,500 m2). Forbes subsequently estimated the size of the apartment at 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2), with a valuation of $100 million. The property records for the apartment later showed that it was 11,000 sq ft (1,000 m2) in size, with an estimated value of $65 million. Thomas Wells, who worked as a lawyer for Trump, noted that every story about the penthouse featured a different number of rooms, with 8, 16, 20 and 30 all printed. Wells asked Trump how many rooms the apartment actually had, to which Trump replied "However many they will print". The size of the penthouse was discussed as part of the New York civil investigation of The Trump Organization. The Attorney General of New York (AG), Letitia James, cited the apartment as being reported as being 30,000 square feet (2,800 square metres); according to the New York AG it is actually about 11,000 square feet (1,000 square metres). A 2017 Forbes article supported the smaller figure and estimated the apartment's value to be less than a third of Trump's valuation of over $200 million. According to a later court filing by the AG, Trump's chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg "admitted that the apartment's value had been overstated by 'give or take' $200 million". During the trial, it surfaced that in 1994, prior to his overstatement, Trump had admitted his penthouse's smaller size.


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Trump Tower

Trump Tower is a 58-story, 664-foot-tall (202 m) mixed-use condominium skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well as the penthouse residence of its developer, the businessman and former U.S. president Donald Trump. Several members of the Trump family also live, or have lived, in the building. The tower stands on a plot where the flagship store of the department-store chain Bonwit Teller was formerly located. The 58-story Trump Tower was designed by Der Scutt of Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. Developed by the real-estate developer and later U.S. president Donald Trump, it is 664 feet (202 m) high. The top story is marked as "68" because, according to Trump, the five-story-tall public atrium occupied the height of ten ordinary stories. However, several Bloomberg L.P. writers later determined that Trump's calculations did not account for the fact the ceiling heights in Trump Tower were much taller than in comparable buildings, and the tower did not have any floors numbered 6–13. According to one author, the building may have as few as 48 usable stories. As of 2021, the building's official owner is GMAC Commercial Mortgage, according to the New York City Department of City Planning. The building has thirteen office stories spanning floors 14 to 26, then another thirty-nine stories containing 263 residential condominiums on floors 30 to 68. Trump said he had placed the lowest residential story on floor 30 as part of a marketing strategy for all his towers, and that he "did not see why he should be forced to call the first residential floor something mundane like the second floor, or even the 20th floor." Trump may also have numbered the residential floors because he disliked the fact that the nearby General Motors Building was 41 feet (12 m) taller. Many of the apartments are furnished, but some of the upper-floor commercial spaces come unfurnished. In the apartments, mirrors and brass are used throughout, and the kitchens are outfitted with "standard suburban" cabinets. The NBC television show The Apprentice was filmed in Trump Tower, on the fifth floor, in a fully functional television studio. The set of The Apprentice included the famous boardroom, which was prominently featured in the television show, where at least one person was fired at the end of each episode. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., founded in 2015 to manage Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, was headquartered within part of the space where The Apprentice was filmed; unlike the former boardroom, the headquarters is unfurnished, with some offices containing "only drywall and no door". After Trump's successful election, the campaign was moved out of the tower and into office space in Arlington, Virginia, where his unsuccessful 2020 re-election campaign was headquartered.