MANHATTAN IN AN EARLIER TIME
Two iconic images from the past. The lead photo is “Manhattan Bridge“, c.1919. You can see the Municipal Building through the cables and a trolley entering the scene at the left. Below is “Penn Station“. c.1949.
THE DREADNOUGHT
Truly dread in its day. Obsolete nowadays as are older ships including aircraft carriers sold for pennies on the dollar for scrap. Makes you want to cry, but if not properly equipped with countermeasures they are little more than sitting ducks for new missile technologies.
WITHER EGYPTIAN DEMOCRACY
The Arab Spring, remember? Egyptians protested the Mubarak regime only to get a new one with al-Sisi. Perhaps the moment was lost. Al-Sisi’s problem was the support for the Muslim Brotherhood within the Egyptian population. In a free election they might have gained control so he set about to crush them. Democracy has to be earned as well as the rule of law, and these concepts have never been institutionalized in Egypt. You cannot simply hand democracy to a country and expect it to flourish. Freedom is not free. Now al-Sisi is trying to eliminate the last bastion of the free press in Egypt, Mada Masr in Cairo. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Egypt is among the leading countries in jailing journalists. Read: “Police Raid Egypt’s Last Independent News Outlet” – WSJ (11/25/19). Opportunity lost it seems for the goal of the Arab Spring in Egypt. We can only hope that it is not too late. Revolutions have a life of their own as demonstrated in the French Revolution. L’Ancien Regime was overthrown only to institute Napoleon. Photo for this blog is: “Egyptians Protest in Tahrir“, Cairo, Egypt (July 12, 2011). Photo essay by Joseph Mayton for DPI.
PACINO vs. DE NIRO
My two favorite actors. Hard to pick one over the other, but only in Hollywood could this happen. In “Heat” (1995) Pacino kills De Niro while in “Righteous Kill” (2008) De Niro returns the favor and kills Pacino. In the real world life is quite different. In the real world the tragedy remains a tragedy: “Homicide on Collins Avenue“; in Miami Beach, Florida (December 14, 1972).
U. S. WITHHOLDING FOREIGN AID TO LEBANON – (NEWSDAY 11/23/19)
“I want you do do me a favor, though….” Please explain to me how withholding foreign aid to allies makes the United States safer. I will answer in four words. No, it does not. Who is next? How can we be trusted by anyone? The only ones who benefit are our enemies.
ARMENIA : GENOCIDE
Absence of toleration ultimately leads to genocide. The greatest example of genocide in recent times is the Holocaust involving Europe’s Jewish population at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. This differed from other genocides in that when the persecution began it was legal under German law (see Nuremberg Laws). But for many other nationalities before and after, the killings took on a different character.
“ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL”
Reference for this famous quotation. Shown here is an ammunition case for the M61 Vulcan. If it could only talk.
See: Weapons of War on DPI.
PARADISE
From the song “Paradise” by John Prine. “And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County, Down by the Green River where Paradise lay, well I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking, Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.” This photo was taken in the neighboring county, Hopkins. “Paradise” (1952).
BLAINE, WEST VIRGINIA (1953)
This photo, “Blaine, West Virginia (1953)“, should be easily recognizable as symbolic of West Virginia even without caption information. This image could have only be taken in West Virginia. Blaine is located in Mineral County near the Maryland border. If you have been following the images on DPI for any length of time I think that you will agree that this is a classic image of West Virginia.
VETERANS DAY
“Bronze Star“; Long Island, N. Y. (July 9, 2018). My father’s. For heroic achievement in a combat zone. Saipan (July 7, 1944).